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THE 



SCHOOL TEACHER'S MANUAL 



THE 



SCHOOL TEACHER'S MANUAL ,• 



CONTAINING 



PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON TEACHING 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 



BY HENRY DUNN, 

^ecmary to the British and Foreign School Society, London. 



PREPARED F OR PU 



LIGATION IN THIS COUNTRY, 

^.f^ WITH A PREFACE, 

BY T.H. aALLAUDET. 




HARTFORD: 

PUBLISHED BY REED AND BARBER 

1839e 



LBmi5 

.ID? 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by 

T. H. GALLAUDET, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



HAK'JLFORD: 

Printed b/ L . Skinner 



PREFACE. 



BY T. H. GALLAUDET. 



The following work I received, some time since, from 
an esteemed friend in England. The official station 
and high character of the author, led me to anticipate 
much satisfaction and improvement from its perusal. 
I was not disappointed. Sound, practical, and enlarged 
views of education, attracted my attention on every 
page ; while a spirit of unaffected piety and benevolence, 
breathing through the whole, showed that the writer's 
hearty as well as head, was well prepared for his task. 
His is a mind to appreciate the worth of good schools 
and good teachers, and of the moral influence which 
they can be made to exercise upon the whole mass of 
society. He holds no such fallacious sentiment that 
mere intellectual training will be sufficient to produce 
private or public virtue. Both teacher and pupils, in 
his opinion, should feel their accountability to God in 
their daily intercourse with each other, and be under the 



VI PREFACE. 

dominion of that love which the Go.spel inspires, in order 
that education may be conducted on the best principles, 
and produce the happiest results. 

Yet he is neither a bigot, nor a sectarian. Should the 
reader, (taking it for granted that he is a believer in 
divine revelation,) happen to differ from the author on 
some two or three points of religious opinion, he will 
find nothing to lead him to do this with any other feel- 
ings than those of kindness and respect for one who 
holds what he considers the truth, in love, and expresses 
it with " the meekness of wisdom." 

The work is emphatically a manual for teachers. 
No one who is a teacher, whether of a day or Sunday 
school, can fail to be benefitted by its perusal. There 
are other works, indeed, of a similar kind before the 
public, and deserving of the highest commendation. 
But this will be found to have its peculiar excellencies, 
the results of long experience, careful observation, 
and profound thought, expressed in a clear, forcible, 
engaging, and often eloquent manner. He who reads 
it once, if employed in the business of instruction, will 
be sure to read it again ; and could its principles and 
spirit but find their way into our schools, and ticade- 
mies, and even higher institutions of learning, good 
would be done of which we can hardly estimate the 
amount. 

While making these remarks, it will be allowed me to 
say that in a very few things, if writing on the same 
topics, I might express sentiments differing somewhat 
from those of the author. My object, however, is not to 
give my own views, but his. This I have endeavored 
faithfully to do ; though I have omitted some passages, 



PREFACE. V12 

and slightly modified others in the English edition, 
in order to digest it of what was peculiarly adapted to 
the state of things in that country, and not to the condi- 
tion of our own. The title, too, has been somewhat 
varied, being in the original ; " Popular Education, or, 
The Normal School Manual, &c," and the letter on the 
Monitorial system, which is the fourth in the series, I 
have transferred to the close of the volume as an Appen- 
dix. To do this, I thought, would give more unity to 
the whole with reference to the great mass of the schools 
among us, (they not being generally conducted on that 
plan ;) while I was desirous to have its peculiar features, 
and as some think, advantages^ spread before the reader 
by so competent and able a hand. 

It is cheering to every friend of popular education to 
see so many gifted and experienced individuals, both in 
this country and in Europe, among whom our author 
holds a conspicuous rank, coming to similar results on 
this momentous subject. Universal intelligence under 
the influence of sound moral and religious principle, and 
diffused, in connection with other modes of doing it, 
through the extensive medium of common schools so as 
to embrace the whole rising generation, is to. constitute 
with the blessing of God, the security, the ornament, 
and the happiness of the social state, and to render it, 
(what we ought ever to regard as its principal value,) the 
propitious auxiliary to our preparation for a higher and 
nobler condition of being beyond the grave. 

Such are the views of the author, expressed in one of 
the paragraphs which, for the reasons already given, 
have been omitted in the body of the work, but though 
coming from an Englishman, and relating particularly 



VIU PREFACE. 

to his own country, it is not without interest to the 
American reader. These are his words : 

" The main object of the work is the improvement of 
our (home) schools, and the elevation of our (English) 
elementaiy teachers. Until this is effected, a deadly- 
apathy will continue to chill every effort to extend edu- 
cation, and cold contempt still wither the aspirations of 
those, who, but for this burden, would cheerfully devote 
themselves to the arduous and important duties of the 
school. " I have been the tutor of princes," said the 
friend of Silvio Pellico, " I am now ambitious to rise to 
the elevation of a schoolmaster to the poor."* If that 
noble sentiment found a cordial response in British 
bosoms, I should say of England, " the day of her deliv- 
erance draweth nigh." But it does not meet with such 
response, and it never will, until the moral power which 
yet slumbers in our schools, is, in a far greater degree 
than heretofore, recognized, developed, and sanctified. 
The improvement of education will alone lead to its 
extension. Then, and not till then, will the benevolent 
anticipations of one of nature's sweetest poets find their 
happy fulfilment, and mankind witness 

— *' The coming of that glorious time, 

Wheii; prizmg knowledge as her noblest wealth 

And best protection, this imperial realm, 

While she exacts allegiance, shall admit 

An obligation, on her part, to teach 

Them who are born to serve her and obey ; 

* Speech of Henry Meyer, Esq. of Rome, at the meeting of the 
British and Foreign School Society, 



PREFACE. 

Binding herself by statute, to secure 
For all the children whom her soil maintains, 
The rudiments of letters ; and to inform 
The mind with moral and religious truth."* 

* Wordsworth—*' The Excursion." 



IX 



CONTENTS 



Object of the Book, - - . . 

Pleasantness of Teaching, 

Government of a School, 

^'Didaktik," or the Art of Communicating, 

Rewards and Punishments, 

Moral and Religious Influence, 

Moral and Intellectual Habits of a Teacher, 

Duties of a School Committee, 

Appendix, The Monitorial System, 



Tagt 
13 

19 

30 

53 

116 

136 

176 

195 

207 



THE 

SCHOOL TEACHER'S MANUAL 



LETTER L— TO A FRIEND. 



OBJECT OF THE WORK. 

Various motives, my dear friend, have influ- 
enced me in determining, without further delay, 
to attempt the preparation of a small volume for 
the use of teachers. It is just seven years since 
I entered upon my present engagements, and 
became exclusively devoted to the furtherance of 
popular education in connection with the British 
and Foreign School Society. Can I commemo- 
rate the completion of this period better, or 
express my gratitude to the Author of all good 
for the mercies of seven happy years more suita- 
bly, than by endeavoring to gather up, for the 
benefit of others, the fruit which, in that time, 
one would suppose, experience must have dropped 
into the lap even of the most unobservant ? I 
know not why I should be ashamed to confess, 
2 



14 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

that the idea of possessing such a memorial of 
our pleasant intercourse, has not been without its 
weight, in adjusting the balance of conflicting 
views and feelings, with regard to the immediate 
fulfilment of the task I have undertaken. 

The great defect in most books of education, it 
has been well observed by an experienced teacher, 
is^ that "we are taught almost exclusively how to 
operate on the individual* It is the error into 
which theoretic writers almost always fall. We 
are continually meeting with remarks which sound 
very well by the fire-side, but which are totally 
inefiicient and useless in school, from their being 
apparently based upon the supposition that the 
teacher has but one pupil to attend to at a 
time. The great question, however, in the man- 
agement of schools^ is, not how can you take one 
scholar, and lead him forward most rapidly in a 
prescribed course, but how you can classify and 
arrange numhers^ comprising every possible variety, 
both as to knowledge and capacity, so as to carry 
them all forward effectually together. The whole 
business of public instruction, if it goes on at all, 
must go on by the teacher's skill in multiplying 
his power by acting on numbers at o?ice.^^* In select- 
ing materials for my present undertaking, I have 
endeavored constantly to keep the s2nrit of these 
remarks in mind. 

* The Teacher, by J. Abbot, chap. iii. 



SCHOOL TEACHER^S MANUAL. 15 

While, however, I have been anxious to make 
the book thoroughly ]jractical^ and in this respect 
as useful as possible to those who are employed 
in daily instruction, I have not forgotten the 
importance of directing attention to pinciples^ 
capable of a diversified apphcation, rather than to 
methods or exercises, which, however excellent in 
themselves, maybe, to a great extent, inseparable 
from a particular system. Teachers in general 
would, I know, much rather be told of some defi- 
nite way by which they may push forward their 
pupils, than be led to principles which, applied in 
almost any waij^ would insure advantageous results. 
But this indolent habit of mind should by no 
means be encouraged ; a teacher who would excel, 
must reflect: the mechanical adoption of plans, 
without reference to the principles on which they 
rest, is unworthy of an intelligent and manly 
mind. 

The order which I have followed in introducing 
the various topics necessarily brought under notice, 
is that which appeared to me most natural ; and, 
on the whole, best adapted to furnish a clear and 
condensed view of the entire subject. Under 
each head will be found, I may venture to say, 
many practical remarks of great value, the sug- 
gestions of experienced teachers, either in this 
country, in Germany, or in the United States of 
America. It would have afforded me much plea- 
sure to have given the name of every writer whose 



16 SCHOOL teachek's manual. 

sentiments have been thus transferred to the 
present volume, but this act of justice I have found 
myself unable to perform. One source, however, 
from which I have drawn unsparingly, must be 
specially mentioned. I refer to the "American 
Annals of Education and Instruction," edited by 
the Rev. Wilham C. Woodbridge,^ a journal of 
which it is impossible for me to speak too highly ; 
I scarcely know the extent of my obligations to 
this educational treasur}^ Still, with all the aid 
I have been able to obtain, my task has been 
sufficiently arduous. It would have been easy to 
ivTite a volume on education, and still easier to 
compile one : to collate the views of nearly seventy 
different authors, and to express (if I may borrow 
a chemical phrase) the result of their investiga- 
tions, I have found both difficult and laborious, 
but in no other way could the hind of book that is 
wanted be produced. 

How far the main object of the undertaking, 
the preparation of a suitable text-hook for young 
teachers, has been attained, remains to be seen ; 
an approximation to what is desired, is perhaps 
all that, under the circumstances, can reasonably 
be expected. In the absence of any thing better, ' 
however, this may have its use* 



* He has since retired from the editorship of this valuable peri- 
odical, which he conducted, for several years, with so much credit 
to himself and benefit to his country. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 17 

Some i7icidental benefits may, I trust also not 
unreasonably, be expected to result from the pub- 
lication of this little volume. It may serve to 
show those who desire the office of a teacher, that 
■ something beyond the mere wish to do good, is 
necessary in order to effect good ; and that one 
chief reason why schools are not more useful will 
be found in the fact, that instructors have not qual- 
ified themselves for usefulness. 

Another, and not less important end will be 
attained, if the book should lead to an attempt to 
increase the power of moral influence in schools. 
The very endeavor, whether successful or not, 
would do good. It is mortifying to think, that 
amid all the diversified enterprises of Christian 
benevolence, no combined effort should yet have 
been made, to develop and secure the vast amount 
of moral and spiritual energy which might be 
employed for this purpose. While so much is 
done to cultivate the intellect, and furnish the 
mind with knowledge, how important it is to 
bestow even more attention upon the right training 
of the conscience and the heart. 

Much of the present volume must of necessity 
be found inapplicable to the conduct and general 
management of Sunday schools ; yet to the Teachers 
of these important institutions some of' the hints 
may notwithstanding be valuable. Education is 
not less a science, nor is teaching less an art, 

because the exclusive subject of instruction is 

2* 



18 SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL, 

moral and religious truth ; the instrument in eveiy 
case is the same ; and the general laws by which 
that instrument may be best fitted to discover 
and to apply truth, are one and identical. All 
questions, therefore^ relating either to the nature 
or management of mind, or to the practical 
application of those laws by which mind is to be 
governed or strengthened, cannot fail to be inter- 
esting to the intelligent Sunday school teacher. 



LETTER IL— TO A YOUNG TEACHER. 



THE PLEASANTNESS OF TEACHING. 

"Most persons," saj^s Sir Walter Scott, "must 
have witnessed with dehght, the joyous burst 
which attends the dismissing of a village school 
on a fine summer evening. The buoyant spirit 
of childhood, repressed with so much difficulty 
during the tedious hours of disciphne, may then 
be seen to explode, as it were, in shout, and 
song, and frolic, as the little urchins join in groups 
on the play-ground, and arrange their matches 
of sport for the evening. But there is one indi- 
vidual who partakes of the relief afforded by the 
moment of dismission, whose feelings are not so 
obvious to the eye of the spectator, or so apt to 
receive his sympathy. I mean the teacher him- 
self, who, stunned with the hum, and suffocated 
with the closeness of his school-room, has spent 
the whole day (himself against a host) in con- 
trolling petulance, exciting indifference to action, 
striving to enliven stupidity, and laboring to 
soften obstinacy; and whose very powers of 



20 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

intellect have been confounded by hearing the 
same dull lesson repeated a hundred times by- 
rote, and only varied by the various blunders 
of the reciters. If to these mental distresses 
are added a delicate frame of body, and a mind 
ambitious of some higher distinction than that 
of being the tyrant of childhood, the reader may 
have some slight conception of the relief which 
a solitary walk in the cool of a fine summer 
evening affords to the head which has ached, 
and the nerves which have been shattered, for so 
many hours, in plying the irksome task of public 
instruction." 

What a picture! The ''tyrant of childhood," 
making his escape from the dulness and noise, 
the heat and suffocation, the tears and punish- 
ment of his wretched empire ! Who, with such 
a prospect before him, would be a school-master? 
If this touching and graphic description, so true 
to nature, must be realised by the teacher, what 
strange mockery to speak of the pleasantness of 
teadiing! Happily for our purpose, however, it 
need not be realised ; the tyranny and tears, the 
dulness and distraction, may all be dispensed 
with ; and enjoyments of the highest and purest 
kind, mutually shared by the teacher and the 
taught, be made to occupy their places. It Z5 thus 
with some, and therefore it may be thus with you, 
and with all. The fact is, there are conditions 
of happiness in a school, as well as in every 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 21 

Other situation in life ; and if these conditions be 
not observed, neither peace nor comfort can be 
found within its precincts. Permit me to enume- 
rate some of them. 

The first is, ability to aovERN by moral 
MEANS. In a school it is of course necessary to 
resolve to rule; but this is not all that is necessary. 
Children are, to a much greater extent than is 
generally supposed, reasonable and intelligent 
beings; they are just as much influenced by 
motives as adults: and they must be governed 
very much in the same way. Now, if a teacher, 
disregarding this obvious truth, insists upon ruling 
simply by the exercise of blind and brute force, 
he must expect to reap the reward of his folly in 
the uneasiness, vexation, and perplexity, which 
such a course will inevitably bring upon him. 
Nor is this all. By so doing, he at once chokes 
up the spring of some of the highest enjoyments 
of which the human mind is susceptible. All 
men love power, especially moral power. The 
exercise of this kind of power, or w^hat we call 
influence^ is universally grateful; the intensity, 
the exquisiteness of the enjoyment depending upon 
the number of minds which can be influenced ; 
the perfection or dominant character of the influ- 
ence itself; and the difiiculties which have been 
surmounted, — the skill that has been exercised,— 
the amount of mind which has been brought to 
bear, in its attainment. 



22 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Now this particular kind of gratification, the 
able teacher enjoys in the highest perfection. His 
school is the field of his enterprise : in propor- 
tion to his skill and ingenuity in managing human 
nature, is the extent of his success ; and in that 
success he finds an immediate and rich reward. 
To lead, simply by the power of his own mind, 
a hundred other minds in willing captivity; to 
turn the very waywardness and restlessness of 
childhood to the accomplishment of his own 
matured plans and purposes; and to do all this, 
without crushing the buo5^ancy of one spirit, or 
checking the flow of natural gladness in any one 
heart, is a triumph and a joy abundantly com- 
pensating the toil and care by which it has been 
effected. These few remarks will sufficiently 
explain what I understand by the ability to govern 
by moral means. The whole subject of govern- 
ment will come under notice in *my next letter. 

The second condition of happiness in a school, 
is BENEVOLENCE. That was a beautiful saying 
of Dr. Dwight, ''He that makes a little child hap- 
pier for half an hour is a co-worker with God^ 
It precisely expresses the spirit which pervades 
the bosom of a happy teacher. I have sometimes 
observed the working of this heavenly principle 
under circumstances of greatout ward discourage- 
ment. One wonders that a man should remain 
where there is so little to cheer hirn. The reason 
is obvious. He loves his work just because he 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 23 

delights in the exercise of the benevolent affec- 
tions.. His school-room is a happy place, because 
it is the theatre of his good- will, — the place where 
his kindest and best feelings are developed and 
exercised. He has emotions there into which 
'*a stranger cannot enter." His relationship to 
it^ is distinct from that which belongs to any other 
locaHty. It is his own exclusive domain,— the 
territory within which his influence is paramount. 
There, every individual is his distinct charge; 
and as he seeks to stamp upon each the impress 
of his owm mind and character, he finds his 
reward in that peculiar blessedness which, by the 
very constitution of human nature, invariably 
attends the humblest effort to benefit another-. 

A third condition of happiness, is unflinch- 
ing FAITH IN THE EFFICACY OF EARLY INSTRUC- 
TION AS A MEANS OF MORAL REaENERATION. On 

this point there should be no misgivings. What- 
ever others may think, the teacher must be satis- 
fied, that any great moral change in the commu- 
nity, will be mainly effected by the instrumentality 
of schools; that this is God's appointed way of 
spreading sacred and salutary influences through- 
out the whole community. I have Imown some 
teachers singularly deficient in this essential 
characteristic of a good instructor. Instead of 
rejoicing in the hopes and expectations which 
attach by eminence to their ministry, you see 
plainly enough they altogether distrust it. The 



S4: SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

seed does not spring up immediately, and they at 
once conclude that it is all choked by the thorns. 
Because another and distinct agency is employed 
by God to gather in the harvest, from that which 
is employed to plough and to sow, they attach 
inefficiency only to the latter, and forget the prom- 
ise that "he who soweth and they who reap shall 
one day rejoice together.'^'' Now this temper of 
mind is as unphilosophic as it is unscriptural. 
Reflect, I pray you, on the peculiar facilities which 
are afforded by your particular position, not only 
for doing good, but *for doing it most extensively ! 
Is it no advantage to turn up the yet unbroken 
soil, and to sow the first seeds ? Is it nothing, to 
hold in your hand a chain of communication, 
linking your mind, not merely with a hundred 
other minds, but with all the minds that through 
all tim^e shall ever be influenced by those who 
received their earliest impressions from you ? 
Is it no special honor to be the servant of the 
feeblest, the most inexperienced, and the most 
helpless? — to stand at the portico, as it were, of, 
the temple of God, keeping the house, and guard- 
ing it from pollution ? And is all this arrangement 
of Providence subservient to no end ? Is it pro- 
ductive of no good result ? If you have brought 
yourself to believe this, depend upon it, my friend, 
the error has more to do with the heart than with 
the head. There is but one radical cure for this 
distemper of the mind, and that is, calm and 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 25 

prayerful meditation on the word, the ways, and 
the promises of God. Bring your weariness and 
distrust "to the light," and it cannot fail "to 
be reproved." So long as it is cherished and 
indulged, it is impossible that you can be happy 
in your w^ork. 

Subordinate, indeed, to these essential elements 
of happiness, yet still materially affecting the 
degree of comfort which a teacher will enjoy in 
his school, are two other quahfications, which may 
just be hinted at. The first is, the ability to 
INTEREST children ; not only to make them happy, 
but happy in the performance of dtity; acapabihty 
which mainly depends on the attention paid by a 
teacher to what the Germans call '' didaktikj^ or 
the art of communicating instruction : but as this 
will form the subject of a distinct letter, it need 
not now be further adverted to. The second is, 
COMPETENT INFORMATION; bywhich I mean, uot 
merely the possession of just sufficient knowledge 
to conduct the school, but such a complete and 
accurate acquaintance on the part -of the teacher, 
with the elements of that which he has to teach, as 
shall give him the perfect mastery of all its parts, 
and unlimited confidence in the correctness of his 
instructions. Any branch of science which is not 
thus known, is not our own; it must be ranked 
among the lands that are yet to be possessed. 
No man can clearly and simply explain to a child, 
any thing with which he is not himself perfectly 
3 



26 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

acquainted. To illustrate successfully much more 
is necessary ; a considerable share of information 
on many subjects is essential to success in this 
department. A good teacher knows and feels 
this, and since all knowledge is congruous, he is 
always on the look-out for materials of instruction. 
It is thus he learns his own ignorance. The 
further he advances, the more he finds how neces- 
sary it is, that he who undertakes to teach others^ 
should take time to prepare himself. 

Still, in order to be successful as a teacher, it is 
not necessary to be a proficient in every thing, nor 
is it either wise or honest to make any such preten- 
sions. A man brings a great deal of unnecessary 
anxiety, irritation, and consequent misery upon 
himself, when he is afraid to confess ignorance. 
*'I remember well (says professor Jardine) the 
striking effect produced on the minds of the stu- 
dents, by an instance of great simplicity and 
candor, on the part of the late venerable Dr. Reid, 
when he was professor of moral philosophy in this 
university (Glasgow). During the hour of exam- 
ination they were reading to him a portion of 
Cicero de Finibus ; when at one of those mutilated 
and involved passages which occasionally occur 
in that work, the student who was reading 
stopped, and was unable to proceed. The doc- 
tor attempted to explain the difficulty ; but the. 
meaning of the sentence did not immediately pre- 
sent itself. Instead, however, of slurrinc: it over,^ 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 27 

as many would have done, ' Gentlemen,' said he, 
' I thought I had the meaning of this passage, but 
it has escaped me : I shall, therefore, be obliged 
to any one of you who will translate it.' A stu- 
dent thereupon instantly stood up in his place, 
and translated it to the doctor's satisfaction. He 
politely thanked him for it, and farther commended 
the young man for his spirited attempt. This 
incident had a powerful effect upon the minds of 
the other students, while all admired the candor 
of that eminent professor ; nor was there a sin- 
gle difficult passage, which was not afterwards 
studied with more than usual care, that the next 
precious opportunity for distinction might be 
seized." Act in this spirit, and you will lose 
nothing b}^ renouncing all claim to infaUibiUty. 

The interest which strangers will take in visit- 
ing j^our school,— the notion they will have of the 
pleasantness of teaching, (and this is a matter of 
no triffing importance,) will depend very much 
upon your skill in exhibiting that which is most 
likely to be generally interesting to your visitors. 
You ought not to complain of the inattention and 
indifference of influential persons in your neigh- 
borhood, if you take no pains to interest them. 
Only ensure good order; a clean and well- ven- 
tilated school-room ; and happy faces : and human 
nature must be strangely changed, if you do not 
find your full share of persons an:5dous to witness 



28 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

your intelligent and well-directed experiments on 
the youthful mind. After all, however, you must 
not expect that strangers will ever properly esti- 
mate the value and efficiency of your labors. 
They can only do so, when they know what the 
children were at the time of their entrance. 

One other observation will conclude this letter. 
iVb man can he happy as a teacher^ who is Qiot prepared 
to devote all his powers to the performance of its duties. 
Fellenberg does not ask too much, in demanding 
for this office, "a vigilance that never sleeps, a 
perseverance that never tires." Nothing short of 
this will suffice. How strange, then, is the delu- 
sion of those who rush towards it, as the elysium 
of indolence ! That such should be unhappy in 
the employment, is a source of gratification rather 
than of regret. Let them flee to some other occu- 
pation, for here they will find no resting place 
for the soles of their feet. The motto of Luther, 
*' Work on earth, and rest in heaven," must be 
the motto of every faithful school-mastery and he 
who is not prepared to live and act in this spirit, 
had better leave the service to warmer hearts 
and nobler minds. Such a man will never know 
any thing of the elevated delights which asso- 
ciate themselves with the employment; he may 
have the drudgery, but he will not find the pleas- 
ures of the exercise ; he belongs to that class, of 
whom Fenelon beautifully saj^s, in relation to 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 29 

another (and yet not another) service, " They 
perceive what it deprives them of, but they do 
not see what it bestows ; they exaggerate its sac- 
rifices, without looking at its consolations." How 
can such as these know any thing of the pleasant- 
ness of teaching^ 



3* 



LETTER III.— TO THE SAME, 



GOVERNMENT OF A SCHOOL, 

I have already observed that children must be 
governed to a great extent by the same way as 
men are, viz. by the adaptation of plans to the 
fixed and uniform tendencies of human nature. 
At the same time, it is fully allowed, that the 
government of a school must be a power, exer- 
cised by the will of one man, according to cir- 
cumstances of which he alone is the judge. Now 
there are two ways, and but two ways, of obtain- 
ing power of this description, — one is hy force ^ 
the other, by influence. Both are necessary in 
their places, according to the age and character of 
those who are the subjects of discipline ; but both 
are not equally suitable for the school. A child is 
a reasonalle being ; and therefore Dr. Johnson was 
wrong in arguing, in defence of Hastie, that school 
boys ''can be governed only by fear; that no 
stated rules can ascertain the degrees of scholas- 
tic, more than of military punishment, but that it 
must be enforced till it overpowers temptation, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 31 

till stubbornness becomes flexible and perVerse- 
ness regular." Lord Mansfield, in his judgment 
on the same case, which he pronounced in the 
House of Lords, showed himself both a wiser 
and a better man, when he exclaimed, " My Lords, 
severity is not the way to govern either boys or 
men."* 

Let us then try to find out "a more excellent 
way." Putting aside, therefore, the old notion of 
brute force^ as unfit to be applied for the purposes of 
government, when the reasoning powers are pos- 
sessed and developed, let us see how moral means, 
or what we term influence^ may be brought to bear 
in this service. 

The first thing to be attended to in every school 
is GOOD ORDER. This point, not less essential 
to the comfort of the teacher, and to the commu- 
nication of instruction, than it is to the happiness 
and the moral w^elfare of the child, must be gained 
at all hazards. The want of order is the great 
master defect of nearly all schools. I know of no 
one thing w^hich so powerfully counteracts the 
exertions of teachers as this want of good disci- 
pline.t It is a great mistake to attend to instruc- 

* Dr. Johnson's argument in this case, may be fonnd at length in 
the appendix to Boswell's Johnson, vol. iii. Murray's edition. 

t It will be seen that I use this word here, and I shall do so in 
future, in its modern and limited sense, as referring to control ; and 
not in its more legitimate and extended signification, as relating to 
the whole course of instruction. I make this remark became 



32 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

tion as the Jirst thing; the love of order, punctual- 
ity, and cleanliness, ought to be awakened before 
the means of knowledge are increased; and this, 
not because literary instruction is less important, 
but because discipline is itself a principal means 
both of moral and intellectual improvement. 
Every intelligent being sees and feels the beauty 
of order when he finds himself surrounded by it, 
and children do so even more -than adults. A 
good teacher will know how to turn this natural 
taste (or arrangement to account. I will only add 
that, whatever may in other respects be the talents 
of an instructor, if he cannot maintain good order, 
he is worse than useless as a moral governor of the 
young ; he takes rank with the incompetent and 
the indolent. 

The question then arises, How is order to be 
obtained ? I should reply, by letting it be under- 
stood from the first that you are determined to have 
it. Good or bad arrangements, a well or ill 
chosen system, (matters with which your pupils 
have nothing to do,) will, of course, materially 
affect the degree of order which can be maintained, 
and will also make a wide difference in the ease 
or difficulty of obtaining it. I am not now, how- 
ever, speaking of systems, but of the kind of influ- 
ence which must be exercised in order to make any 

Professor Pillans, in his very useful " Letters on Elementary 
Teaching,*' adopts the latter sense, as corresponding to disciplina, 
in the writings of Cicero and Quintilian. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 33 

system work quietly, regularly, and efficiently. 
And here nothing can be done without unbending^ 
inflexible determhmtion on the part of the teacher. 
He must be an absolute monarch, and he must 
speak as a man ''having authorit3^" 

These last words start a new train of thought. 
They suggest the idea of One, before whom, not 
the waywardness of childhood, but the wicked- 
ness of mature and hardened' malignity, cowed 
and was abashed ; and yet he was " meek and 
lowly," a '' man of sorrows," in rank a servant, 
and in temper a lamb. With this example before 
us, need I add, that the voice and look of author- 
ity are quite compatible with a spirit of gentleness, 
love, and true humility ? Ah ! you will say, but 
He was "the Holy One !" True! that was the 
secret of his power. While he commanded others 
he was himself governed ; not indeed by men, but 
by principles ; and so must you be, if, like him, 
you would be in your appropriate place, the object 
at once of fear and of love. Law (not caprice) 
must rule your school ; law, of which Hooker 
beautifully says, ''Her seat is the bosom of 
God, her voice the harmony of the world ; all 
things in heaven and earth do her homage, the 
very least as feeling her care, and the very great- 
est as not exempted from her power ; both angels 
and men, and creatures of what condition soever, 
though each in different sort and manner, yet all 



34 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother 
of their peace and joy." But this is digression. 

In enforcing authority, especially over numbers, 
attention must he 'paid to the tones of the voice. A 
horse, it has been shrewdly observed, soon per- 
ceives the timidity of his rider by the shaking of 
his legs, and no sooner does he suspect fear than he 
refuses to obey. Children, in like manner, instinc- 
tively discover by the tones of the voice when 
a teacher is unable to enforce obedience ; and the 
moment that discovery is made, his power is gone. 
He may implore, or he may be imperious ; he 
will only excite their scorn. You will see that 
what I refer to, has little to do with what is termed 
a good or bad voice ; it is not a question of high 
or low notes, and still less of loudness and vocife- 
ration. It is only as an index to the mind^ as indi- 
cating the determination within, that the tones of 
the voice become important; and this kind of 
demonstration you will at once perceive, may be 
conveyed as well in a whisper as in a shout. 
Only let it be a living voice, expressing the calm 
and quiet determination of a mind conscious of its 
strength, and it will rarely be resisted. 

Bear in mind, then, that the first step you have 
to take, in moral, as well as in intellectual educa- 
tion, is, TO ESTABLISH YOUR AUTHORITY. There 

never was a more absurd notion than that which is 
becoming popular in some quarters, that children 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 35 

may be governed without authority, by moral 
suasion alone ; that is to say, that they may be 
brought to love duty, without any intervention of 
arbitrary command. Do not listen to this mis- 
chievous trash for a moment. To what extent it 
may be possible to substitute explanations and 
reasons for commands, I do not pretend to say ; 
but thil I am sure of, no good will be done unless 
the child knows that authority is at hand if reason 
should fail ; and let me add, I account that moral 
discipline of httle worth, which does not teach a 
child to submit to authority, simply as authority, 
" There are moments in the course of education, 
and even of life, when the delay which reasoning 
demands, would expose us to danger w^hich it is 
intended to avert, and where we must learn to 
yield to authority without a question."* Mr. Ab- 
bott, in a paper published in the American Annals 
of Education, illustrates this principle in his usual 
happy manner. He says, ''Power is not useless 
because it lies dormant. The government of the 
United States employs its hundreds of workmen 
at Springfield, and at Harper's Ferry, in the man- 
ufacture of muskets. The inspector examines 
every one as it is finished, with great care. H^ 
adjusts the flint, and tries it again and again, until 
its emitted shower of sparks is of proper brill- 
iancy ; and when satisfied that all is right, he 

• Woodbridge. 



36 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

packs it away with its thousand companions, to 
sleep probably in their boxes in quiet obscurity for 
ever. A hundred thousand of these deadly instru- 
ments form a volcano of slumbering power which 
never has been awakened, and which we hope never 
will be. The government never makes use of them. 
One of its agents, a custom-house officer, waits 
upon you for the payment of a bond. He brings 
no musket. He keeps no troops. He comes 
with the gentleness and civility of a social visit. 
But you know, that if compliance with the just 
demands of your government is refused, and the 
resistance is sustained, force after force would be 
brought to bear upon you, until the whole hundred 
thousand muskets should speak with their united 
and tremendous energy. Such ought to be the 
character of all government. The teacher of a 
school, especiall}^, must act upon these principles. 
He will be mild and gentle in his manners ; in his 
intercourse with his pupils he will use the lan- 
guage and assume the air, not of stern authority, 
but, of request and persuasion. But there must 
be authority at the bottom to sustain him, or he 
can do nothing successfully, especially in attempt- 
ing to reach the hearts of his pupils. The reason 
why it is necessary is this. First, the man who 
has not the full, unqualified, complete control of 
his scholars, must spend his time and wear out his 
spirits in preserving any tolerable order in his 
dominions ; and, secondly, he who has not author- 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 49 

time or trouble as too great." Still, they must not 
govern you ; nor will they probably attempt it, if 
they find that while you are mild and courteous, 
you still know how to maintain your authority, and 
to carry out j^our plans with unwavering firmness. 

The best mode of treating new scholars is 
often a perplexing consideration to young teachers ; 
nor is it by any means an unimportant one. A 
child not unfrequently derives its strongest impres- 
sions with regard to school, -from the events of the. 
first few days or weeks after its admission. It is 
here, then, necessary to guard on the one hand, 
against an amount of indulgence which cannot 
be continued ; and on the other, against a degree 
of strictness proper only to be exercised towards 
those who have been for some Httle time under the 
discipline of the school. Gentleness and decision 
combined, are essential; and nothing else will 
meet the irritation and insult to which a teacher is 
often exposed by new comers. Not a few enter with 
a determination to have their own way, and the strug- 
gle which folio vv^s is always very trying to the tem- 
per of the instructor. These are the things that 
test his skill in the management of human nature, 
and according to his proficiencj^willbe his success. 
In educating the ox for the plough, Mr. Cobbett 
very sensibly recommends that all violence and 
rough language should be avoided. ''If he be 
stubborn, there should be no blows and no loud 
scolding. Stop ; pat him ; pat the other ox ; and 



50 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

he will presently move on again. If he lie clown, 
let him lie till he is tired ; and when he chooses to 
get up, treat him very gently, as if he had been 
doing every thing that was right. By these means 
a young ox will in a few days be broken to his 
labor. With gentle treatment, he is alwaj^s of the 
same temper ; always of the same aptitude to 
labor." A new scholar should be broken in, to 
the regulations of a school, if not in the same 
way, at least on the same principles. 

But what is to be done with the thoroughly 
incorrigible ; the one that has imbibed habits of 
confirmed depravity, and on whom admonitions 
and efforts have all been expended in vain ? I 
think there can be but one answ^er — dismiss him. 
In this case there are bad influences 02a of 
school, operating more powerful^, and counteract- 
ing but too successfully the good influences of 
discipline and instruction. Unless these could be 
removed, the prospect of reformation is hopeless ; 
and, therefore, you are not only justified, but hound, 
out of regard to the welfare of the rest, at once to 
separate him from the school. In Sunday schools, 
where it is possible to isolate in a great measure a 
youth of this description, and to keep him almost 
exclusively under the eye of a judicious teacher, 
it may be desirable to retain our hold as long as 
he is willing to attend ; but in schools where num- 
bers are to be governed by one teacher, this degree 
of care is manifestly impossible. It is then far 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 51 

better that one should be abandoned to his folly, 
than that the whole school should be corrupted by 
his iniquity.'^ 

before concluding this letter, I must very briefly 
refer to the too frequent absence of good order in 
Sunday schools. I am not ignorant of the pecul- 
iar difficulties which stand in the way, and fre- 
quently impede the exercise of discipline in these 
institutions. There is in the minds of some Sun- 
day school teachers a constant shrinking from the 
exercise of authority, lest the child should be dis- 
gusted with school, and withdraw itself altogether 
from the influences of Christian instruction. The 
only remedy that I can suggest, is, the adoption of 
a course which, I doubt not, has frequently been 
urged upon attention ; viz. the exercise by teach- 
ers generally, of greater care in the selection of 
superintendents, and of greater humility in sub- 
mitting to their arrangements. These men should 
be chosen chiefly on account^ of their ability 
to govern; and when chosen, they should be 
'' esteemed very highly in love for their work's 
sake." From the remarks which have been made 
in this letter on the government of schools gene- 
rally many important principles may be gathered, 
which, with some triffing modifications, will admit 
of general adoption in Sunday schools. The par- 

* I have recently heard of two instances in which expulsion has 
led to the reformation of the offender. The possibility of this result 
should not be kept altogether out of sight. 



52 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

ticular mode of their application must be left to the 
judgment of experienced teachers. 

In conclusion, let me again remind you, that 
cJdldrm naturally love order. They may not like 
the means by which alone it can be secured, but 
when it is secured, they are always the happier 
for it» A strict discipline, unstained by severity, 
never weaned the affections of any child, either 
from his school or his teacher. If, therefore, you 
would at once promote your own comfort, the 
happiness of your pupils, and their highest wel- 
fare MAINTAIN GOOD GOVERNMENT. 



LETTER IV.— TO THE SAME. 



^'didaktik," or the art of communi 

GATING. 



By this word (didalctilc)^ which the Germans 
have adopted from the Greek, I wish you to under- 
stand, the art of teaching; as distinguished on the 
one hand, from their inethodiTc^ or science of meth- 
ods ; and on the^ other from their ^adagogik^^ or 
science of education ; of which the art of com- 
municating is only one part or division. You will 
readily perceive that it is an attainment per- 
fectly distinct from any particular plan or system ; 
and also a very different thing from what is usu- 
ally termed tact in teaching. It is in fact, the art 
of so communicating knowledge, that the pupil 
shall, as far as possible, comprehend in all its rela- 
tions, the truth sought to be imparted ; and that, 
associating what is thus received, with other and 

* Dr. Bryce (of Belfast) suggests the word padeutics, which may 
be considered as both an art and a science; an art when it lays down 

rules, a science when it teaches general principles. 

5# 



54 SCHOOL teacher's MANUAI/. 

previous acquisitions, he may be led at one and 
the same time, to cultivate his original faculties, 
and to store his mind richly and permanently with 
valuable facts. This is what I mean by " the art 
of teaching," a talent which few naturally possess, 
but which may doubtless be acquired by the 
careful and diligent study of the human mind, in 
connection with a moderate share of ^'practice." . 
The use of this latter word suggests an analogy 
which, certainly to some extent, subsists between 
the profession of teaching and that of medicine. 
He who would be an accomplished physician, 
must stndj princijylesj as well as '' see cases ;" and, 
in like ma^nner, he who would be a useful teacher, 
must look beyond the systems to the principles on 
which they rest. The man who thinks himself 
qualified to teach, merely because he has observed 
others teaching on a particular plan, is just as 
much an empiric, as the medical pretender whose 
course of study has been limited to occasional 
walks through the wards of a hospital. It 
was in connection with this view of the subject, 
(its relation to the philosophy of the human mind,) 
that Dr. Thomas Brown, of Edinburgh, spoke of 
the art of teaching as *'the noblest, and in pro- 
portion to its value, the least studied of all the 
arts." When examined in this light, it cannot 
fail, I think, to be recognised as an attainment 
equally important to day and to Sunday school 
teachers ; because, it bears as directly on the 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 55 

effectual communication of Divine, as of secular 
knowledge. 

After these remarks, from which you may 
gather the notions I entertain of the length and 
breadth of this subject, it is scarcely necessary 
for me to add, that a letter, like the present, can, 
of necessity, contain little more than a few brief 
hints, relating indeed to the art in question, but by 
no means sufficient for its entire comprehension. 
Before this can be accomplished, many a volume 
must be studied ; and, let me say, too, many a 
night passed in deep reflection upon the observa- 
tions of the day. 

I will suppose you, then, actuated by a sincere 
desire to communicate instruction in the best pos- 
sible way, entering your school room, perplexed 
and harassed by the waywardness and indiffer- 
ence of your pupils ; and that in this state of 
mind you put the question, ''What can I do to 
excite attention, to stimulate dulness, to awaken 
effort ?" I reply, in the first place, as preliminary 
indeed to every thing else, — ^bring distinctly before 
your own mind the well-known fact, that children 
delight as rmich in exercising their ininds as their limbs ; 
provided only that which is presented to them, 
be suited to their capacities, and adapted to their 
strength.^ 



^ Probably it is no exaggeration to say that the appetite for know- 
ledge is as great as any bodily appetite. To knowt is one of the 



6(j SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 

'' It was but this morning, (says a recent writer 
on education,) that I watched a young lazaroni, 
w^hile he sought to make his little crazy boat lie 
straight and steady upon the water. How fertile 
was he in expedients ; how ingenious in contri- 
vances ; how resolute against despair ! First, were 
the waves too strong ; he sought out, therefore, a 
more sheltered spot : he next adjusted the balance 
and unfurled the sails — still without success. He 
then looked around him in much perplexity, till 
some of that long sea-weed, which is scattered 
over the coast after a storm, caught his eye : this 
he seized eagerly, and peeling it into long strips, 
he tied with them his little boat to a stone, (his 
sheet anchor ;) and then wading as far out as the 
weed would permit, and so shaping his course that 
a neighboring jetty might afford him smooth and 
tranquil water, he again placed his boat upon the 
sea. There he stood breathless, his hands busied 
with his burdens, his shirt tucked up and held by 
his teeth, but still half floating on the water, and 
his face troubled as though with his last hope. 
One moment he seemed to have succeeded ; the 
next, and his boat again lay with its side upon the 

strongest desires of childhood ; lo obtain a new word is pleasant, 
and to gain a newideais pleasanter still; but to be crammed with 
words without ideas is very painful. Dr. Johnson was any thing 
but a philosopher, when he said that ''no attention can be obtained 
from children without the infliction of pain." Happily for this- gen- 
eration, this notion is now nearly exploded. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 57 

waves : he did not however even then despair, 
but sat himself upon the beach, with an old nail 
and a stone, to devise some other remedy."* 
Now, we have only to make our experiments 
equally interesting to the youthful mind, in order 
to excite and to sustain the same ardor. 

It is a great mistake to suppose, as many do, 
that, in order to make learning pleasant to the 
young, difficulties must as much as possible be 
removed out of the way. On the contrary, it is in 
teaching them to overcome difficulties, that we shall 
be most likely to create the interest we are so 
desirous of calling forth. As a general rule, it 
should be the care of a teacher to supply his 
pupils from day to day wdth a succession of topics, 
somewhat heyond their Icnowledge^ withoitt being above 
their comjp'ehension. 

General rules, however, wdll not suffice for the 
g-uidance of young teachers ; they want details, 
examples, illustrations ; and without these, rules 
are worthless. If, therefore, I should sometimes 
enlarge on certain branches of instruction with a 
minuteness which their relative importance would 
scarcely seem to justify ; if I should stop to weigh 
conflicting opinions on points which may at first 
sight appear in themselves too trifling for discus- 
sion ; if I should sometimes, for the sake of eluci- 
dation, descend to apparent littleness ; remember 

* Outline of a System of National Education. London, 1835. 



58 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

* 

that I do so, not because I am either regardless of 
the miportance of condensation, or insensible to 
the ofFensiveness of puerility ; but because I am 
determined in these letters to sacrifice every thing 
else to perspicuity and practical usefulness. 

The Alphabet is usually the first subject pre- 
sented to the notice of a child at school ; and a 
more difficult or tiresome lesson he is never 
doomed to meet with in his whole future course. 
The names of the letters are unmeaning and arbi- 
trary sounds ; and with two or three exceptions, 
the forms are not associated with any object previ- 
ously recognised. How can such an exercise be 
expected to produce any thing but weariness and 
disgust ? You will be glad to hear that men of the 
highest attainments in literature, have not thought 
it beneath their character and standing to endeavor 
at least to facilitate the passage across this ' bridge 
of sighs.' 

Mr. Wood, of the Sessional School,,Edinburgh, 
whose views I shall first mention, attaches no 
importance to the ordej- in which the letters are 
learned. He ridicules the idea of perplexing chil- 
dren at this period with any division of the letters 
into vowels and consonants : or the still further 
classification of consonants into mictesj liquids^ semi- 
vowels, and double consonants; and he disapproves, as 
equally unsuited to their capacities, the distraction 
of their minds with labials, dentals, gutturals and na- 
sals; even though accompanied by the explanation. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 59 

that these hard words mean nothing more than 
Z^2;, teeth^ throaty and nose sounds. No attempt, 
however, appears to have been made at the Ses- 
sional school, to remove the tedium invariably 
connected with this branch of instruction ; unless, 
indeed, an artificial exhibition of the twenty-six 
letters on a box, contrived by the late Dr. 
Andrew Thompson, for the use. of his own parish 
school, can be thus designated. 

Professor Pillans, in some lectures which he 
delivered in the year 1827, on the theory and 
practice of teaching, proposes, on the contrary, 
to arrange the alphabetic characters in brother- 
hoods, according to the organs of voice used in 
pronouncing them ; and to teach the child the 
knowledge of his letters at first, and for a long 
time, in this way only. 

" We should thus avoid," he says, " the greatest diffi- 
culty the child encounters in learning the alphabet, that 
of recollecting the sequence or arrangement of the 
letters. The order of their succession in our common 
alphabet is entirely capricious, and appears, indeed, to 
be purely accidental; and a knowledge of it, so far from 
being iodispensable at the outset, is at that stage alto- 
gether useless for any practical purpose. Yet, in the 
ordinary way, the child is arrested, and unseasonably 
detained in the very porch of learning, by being com- 
pelled to name, and not to name only, but to learn by 
heart, a series of letters, which have not one associating 
tie to bind them in the memory, but juxta-position. It 



60 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

is stringing beads, as it were, on a thread of sand. It 
may be well he should know this alphabetic arrange- 
ment when he comes to consult a dictionary ; but I 
really cannot see its use for any other purpose. On the 
other hand, by the classification of letters in their cog- 
nate relations, the acquisition of them may be made an 
arnusing exercise. The attention of the child being 
drawn to the organs of voice employed in each set, he 
makes experiments upon them, in imitating the sounds 
he hears, and has thus a guide to the pronunciation of 
each letter, which greatly facilitates his acquaintance 
with their form and power."* 

Jacotot, to whose principles and methods I shall 
hereafter have occasion to refer, meets the diffiulty 
in by far the best manner; he gets rid of alpha- 
betic teaching altogether, and introduces the pupil, 
from the first, to a knowledge of words. At the 
Borough Road school, the princijile of dispensing 
with alphabetic teaching has long been adopted : 
the alphabet class has merged in that of chil- 
dren in two letters ; and all unmeaning combina- 
tions have been utterly excluded.! The advantage 
is obvious. If the word ''me," ''in," or "to," 
for instance, be mentioned, the child recognizes 
a familiar sound, and judging by the ear, he almost 
instinctively answers, m-e, to the question, " Can 
you spell the word me ?" If, after having men- 

"* Pillans' Letters to Kennedy. 

t " The Mother's Primer, hy T. H. Gallaudet," now in use in the 
primary schools in Boston, teaches words before letters. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 49 

:ime or trouble as too great." Still, they must not 
rovern you ; nor will they probably attempt it, if 
:hey find that while you are rnild and courteous, 
fon still know how to maintain your authority, and 
:o carry out your plans with unwavering firmness. 

The best mode of treating new scholars is 
3ften a perplexing consideration to young teachers ; 
nor is it by any means an unimportant one. A 
2hild not unfrequently derives its strongest impres- 
sions with regard to school, from the events of the 
Lirst few days or weeks after its admission. It is 
bere, then, necessary to guard on the one hand, 
against an amount of indulgence which cannot 
be continued ; and on the other, against a degree 
of strictness proper only to be exercised towards 
those who have been for some little time under the 
discipline of the school. Gentleness and decision 
combined, are essential; and nothing else will 
meet the irritation and insult to which a teacher is 
often exposed by new comers. l:^otdi few enter with 
a determination to have their own way, and the strug- 
gle which follows is always very trying to the tem- 
per of the instructor. These are the things that 
test his skill in the management of human nature, 
and according to his proficiency will be his success. 
In educating the ox for the plough, Mr. Cobbett 
very sensibly recommends that all violence and 
rough language should be avoided. ^' If he be 
stubborn, there should be no blows and no loud 
scolding. Stop ; pat him ; pat the other ox ; and 
5 



50 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

he will presently move on again. If he lie down, 
let hin> lie till he is tired ; and when he chooses to 
get up, treat him very gentl}^ as if he had been 
doing every thing that was right. By these means 
a young ox will in a few days be broken to his 
labor. With gentle treatment, he is alwaj^s of the 
same temper ; always of the same aptitude to 
labor." A new scholar should be broken in, to 
the regulations of a school, if not in the same 
way, at least on the same principles. 

But what is to be done with' the thoroughly 
incorrigible ; the one that has imbibed habits of 
confirmed depravity, and on whom admonitions 
and efforts have all been expended in vain ? I 
think there can be but one answer — dismiss him. 
In this case there are bad influences 02ct of 
school, operating more powerful^, and counteract- 
ing but too successfully the good influences of 
discipline and instruction. Unless these could be 
removed, the prospect of reformation is hopeless ; 
and, therefore, you are not only justified, but bound, 
out of regard to the welfare of the rest, at once to 
separate him from the school. In Sunday schools, 
where it is possible to isolate in a great measure a 
youth of this description, and to keep him almost 
exclusively under the eye of a judicious teacher, 
it may be desirahle to retain our hold as long as 
he is willing to attend ; but in schools where num- 
bers are to be governed by one teacher, this degree 
of care is manifestly impossible. It is then far 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 51 

better that one should be abandoned to his folly, 
than that the whole school should be corrupted by 
his iniquity.* 

Before concluding this letter, I must very briefly 
refer to the too frequent absence of good order in 
Sunday schools. I am not ignorant of the pecul- 
iar difficulties which stand in the way, and fre- 
quently impede the exercise of discipline in these 
institutions. There is in the minds of some Sun- 
day school teachers a constant shrinking from the 
exercise of authority, lest the child should be dis- 
gusted with school, and withdraw itself altogether 
from the influences of Christian instruction. The 
only remedy that I can suggest, is, the adoption of 
a cyurse which, I doubt not, has frequently been 
urged upon attention ; viz. the exercise by teach- 
ers generally, of greater care in the selection of 
superintendents, and of greater humility in sub- 
mitting to their arrangements. These men should 
be chosen chiefly on account of their ability 
to govern ; and when chosen, they should be 
" esteemed very highly in love for their work's 
sake." From the remarks which have been made 
in this letter on the government of schools gene- 
rally many important princijyles may be gathered, 
which, with some trifling modifications, will admit 
of general adoption in Sunday schools. The par- 



* I have recently heard of two instances in which expulsion has 
led to the reformalion of the offender. The possibility of this result 
should not be kept altogether out of sight. 



63 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

ticular mode of their application must be left to the 
judgment of experienced teachers. 

In conclusion, let me again remind you, that 
cJiildren naUtrally love order. They may not like 
the means by which alone it can be secured, but 
when it is secured, they are always the happier 
for it. A strict disciphne, unstained by severity, 
never weaned the affections of any child, either 
from his schooler his teacher. If, therefore, you 
would at once promote your own comfort, the 
happiness of your pupils, and their highest wel-^ 
fare — maintain good government. 



LETTER IV.— TO THE SAME. 

*'didaktik," or the art of communi- 

; GATING. 

By this word (didalctik), which the Germans 
have adopted from the Greek, I wish you to under- 
stand, the art of teaching; as distinguished on the 
one hand, from their methodik^ or science of meth- 
ods ; and on the^ other from their jpadagogik^"^ or 
science of education ; of which the art of com- 
municating is only one part or division. You will 
readily perceive that it is an attainment per- 
fectly distinct from any particular plan or system ; 
and also a very different thing from w^hat is usu- 
ally termed tact 171 teaching. It is in fact, the art 
of so communicating knowledge, that the pupil 
shall, as far as possible, comprehend in all its rela- 
tions, the truth sought to be imparted ; and that, 
associating what is thus received, with other and 

* Dr. Bryce (of Belfast) suggests the word padeutics, which may 
be considered as both an art and a science; an art when it lays down 
rules, a science when it teaches general principles. 

5# 



54 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

previous acquisitions, he may be led at one and 
the^ same time, to cultivate his original faculties, 
and to store his mind richly and permanently with 
valuable facts. THis is what I mean by " the art 
of teaching," a talent which few naturally possess, 
but which may doubtless be acquired by the 
careful and diligent study of the human mind, in 
connection with a moderate share of ^'practice." 

The use of this latter word suggests an analogy 
which, certainly to some extent, subsists between 
the profession of teaching and that of medicine. 
He who would be an accomplished physician, 
must study principles, as well as " see cases ;" and, 
in like manner, he who would be a useful teacher, 
must look beyond the systems to the principles on 
which they rest. The man who thinks himself 
qualified to teach, merely because he has observed 
others teaching on a particular plan, is just as 
much an empiric, as the medical pretender whose 
course of study has been limited to occasional 
walks through the wards of a hospital. It 
was in connection with this view of the subject, 
(its relation to the philosophy of the human mind,) 
that Dr. Thomas Brown, of Edinburgh, spoke of - 
the art of teaching as ''the noblest, and in pro- 
portion to its value, the least studied of all the 
arts." When examined in this light, it cannot 
fail, I think, to be recognised as an attainment 
equally important to day and to Sunday school 
teachers; because, it bears as directly on the 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 55 

efFectual communication of Divine, as of secular 
knowledge. 

After these remarks, from which you may- 
gather the notions I entertain of the length and 
breadth of this subject, it is scarcely necessary 
for me to add, that a letter, like the present, can, 
of necessity, contain little more than a few brief 
hints, relating indeed to the art in question, but by 
no means sufficient for its entire comprehension. 
Before this can be accomplished, many a volume 
must be studied ; and, let me say, too, many a 
night passed in deep reflection upon the observa- 
tions of the day. 

I will suppose you, then, actuated by a sincere 
desire to communicate instruction in the best pos- 
sible way, entering your school room, perplexed 
and harassed" by the waywardness and indiffer- 
ence of your pupils ; and that in this state of 
mind you put the question, ''What can I do to 
excite attention, to stimulate dulness, to awaken 
effort ?" I reply, in the first place, as preliminary 
indeed to every thing else, — ^bring distinctly before 
your own mind the well-known fact, that children 
delight as imich in exercishig their minds as their limhs ; 
provided only that which is presented to them, 
be suited to their capacities, and adapted to their 
strength.* 

^ Probably it is no exaggeration to say that the appetite for know- 
ledge is as great as any bodily appetite. To know, is one of the 



56 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

'' It was but this morning, (says a recent writer 
on education,) that I watched a young lazaroni, 
while he sought to make his little crazy boat lie 
straight and steady upon the water. How fertile 
was he in expedients ; how ingenious in contri- 
vances ; how resolute against despair ! First, were 
the waves too strong ; he sought out, therefore, a 
more sheltered spot : he next adjusted the balance 
and unfurled the sails — still without success. He 
then looked around him in much perplexity, till 
some of that long sea-w^eed, which is scattered 
over the coast after a storm, caught his eye : this 
he seized eagerly, and peeling it into long strips, 
he tied with them his little boat to a stone, (his 
sheet anchor ;) and then wading as far out as the 
w^eed would permit, and so shaping his course that 
a neighboring jetty might afford him smooth and 
tranquil water, he again placed his boat upon the 
sea. There he stood breathless, his hands busied 
with his burdens, his shirt tucked up and held by 
his teeth, but still half floating on the water, and 
his face troubled as though with his last hope. 
One moment he seemed to have succeeded ; the 
next, and his boat again lay with its side upon the 

strongest desires of childhood ; to obtain a new word is pleasant, 
and to gain a newideais pleasanter still; but to be crammed with 
words without ideas is very painful. Dr. Johnson was any thing 
but a philosopher, when he said that *'no attention cau be obtained 
from children without the infliction of pain." Happily for this- gen- 
eration, this notion is now nearly exploded. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 57 

waves : he did not however even then despair, 
but sat himself upon the beach, with an old nail 
and a stone, to devise some other remedy."* 
Now, we have only to make our experiments 
equally interesting to the youthful mind, in order 
to excite and to sustain the same ardor. 

It is a great mistake to suppose, as many do, 
that, in order to make learning pleasant to the 
young, difficulties must as much as possible be 
removed out of the way. On the contrary, it is in 
teaching them to overcome difficulties, that we shall 
be most likely to create the interest we are so 
desirous of calling forth. As a general rule, it 
should be the care of a teacher to supply his 
pupils from day to day with a succession of topics, 
somewhat heyond their knowledge^ without being above 
their comprehension. 

General rules, how^ever, will not suffice for the 
guidance of young teachers ; they want details, 
examples, illustrations ; and without these, rules 
are w^orthless. If, therefore, I should sometimes 
enlarge on certain branches of instruction with a 
minuteness which their relative importance would 
scarcely seem to justify ; if I should stop to weigh 
confficting opinions on points which may at first 
sight appear in themselves too trifling for discus- 
sion; if I should sometimes, for the sake of -eluci- 
dation, descend to apparent littleness ; remember 

* Outline of a System of National Education. London, 1835. 



58 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

that I do so, not because I am either regardless of 
the importance of condensation, or insensible to 
the ofFensiveness of puerility ; but because I am 
determined in these letters to sacrifice every thing 
else to perspicuity and practical usefulness. 

The Alphabet is usually the first subject pre- 
sented to the notice of a child at school ; and a 
more difficult or tiresome lesson he is never 
doomed to meet with in his whole future course. 
The 7iaines of the letters are unmeaning and arbi- 
trary sounds ; and with two or three exceptions, 
theforms are not associated with any object previ- 
ously recognised. How can such an exercise be 
expected to produce any thing but weariness and 
disgust ? You will be glad to hear that men of the 
highest attainments in literature, have not thought 
it beneath their character and standing to endeavor 
at least to facilitate the passage across this ' bridge 
of sighs.' 

Mr. Wood, of the Sessional School, Edinburgh, 
whose views I shall first mention, attaches no 
importance to the orde?' in which the letters are 
learned. He ridicules the idea of perplexing chil- 
dren at this period with any division of the letters 
into vowels and consonants : or the still further 
classification of consonants into mtitesj liquids^ semi- 
vowels J and double consonants; and he disapproves, as 
equally unsuited to their capacities, the distraction 
of their minds with labials^ dentals^ gutturals and na- 
sals; even though accompanied by the explanation, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 59 

that these hard words mean nothing more than 
Zip, teetlt^ throaty and nose sounds. No attempt, 
however, appears to have been made at the Ses- 
sional school, to remove the tedium invariably 
connected with this branch of instruction ; unless, 
indeed, an artificial exhibition of the twenty-six 
letters on a box, contrived by the late Dr. 
Andrew Thompson, for the use of his own parish 
school, can be thus designated. 

Professor Pillans, in some lectures which he 
delivered in the year 1827, on the theory and 
practice of teaching, proposes, on the contrary, 
to arrange the alphabetic** characters in brother- 
hoods, according to the organs of voice used in 
pronouncing them ; and to teach the child the 
knowledge of his letters at first, and for a long 
time, in this way only. 

" We should thus avoid," he says, " the greatest diffi- 
culty the child encounters in learning the alphabet, that 
of recollecting the sequence or arrangement of the 
letters. The order of their succession in our common 
alphabet is entirely capricious, and appears, indeed, to 
be purely accidental ; and a knowledge of it, so far from 
being indispensable at the outset, is at that stage alto- 
gether useless for any practical purpose. Yet, in the 
ordinary way, the child is arrested, and unseasonably 
detained in the very porch of learning, by being com- 
pelled to name, and not to name only, but to learn by 
heart, a series of letters, which have not one associating 
tie to bind them in the memory, but juxta-position. It 



60 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

is stringing beads, as it were, on a thread of sand. It 
may be well he should know this alphabetic arrange- 
ment when he comes to consult a dictionary ; but I 
really cannot see its use for any other purpose. On the 
other hand, by the classification of letters in their cog- 
nate relations, the acquisition of them may be made an 
amusing exercise. The attention of the child being 
drawn to the organs of voice employed in each set, he 
makes experiments upon them, in imitating the sounds 
he hears, and has thus a guide to the pronunciation of 
each letter, which greatly facilitates his acquaintance 
with their form and power."* 

Jacotot, to whose principles and methods I shall 
hereafter have occasion to refer, meets the diffiulty 
in by far the^best manner ; he gets rid of alpha- 
betic teaching altogether, and introduces the pupil, 
from the first, to a knowledge of words. At the 
Borough Road school, the principle of dispensing 
with alphabetic teaching has long been adopted : 
the alphabet class has merged in that of chil- 
dren in two letters ; and all unmeaning combina- 
tions have been utterly excluded.t The advantage 
is obvious. If the word ''me," ''in," or "to," 
for instance, be mentioned, the child recognizes 
a familiar sound, and judging by the ear, he almost 
instinctively answers, m-e, to the question, " Can 
you spell the word me ?" If, after having men- 

"* Pillans' Letters to Kennedy. 

t '* The Mother's Primer, by T. H. Gallaudet," now in use in the 
primary schools in Boston, teaches words before letters. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 61 

tloned the word, the monitor tells him to point on 
the lesson to the letters which compose it, his curi- 
osity is excited, and the gratification attendant on 
a successfiil effort, excites a desire to encounter 
new difficulties.*' 

Spelling. We learn to spell, chiefly, if not 
exclusively, in order that we may be able to write 
correctly ; that method, therefore, which will most 
speedily and effectually enable us to carry the 
relative situations of the letters in the mind, so 
that whenever we wish to express our thoughts 
on paper, we can do so without misplacing them, 
is certainly the best. Now, as writing a word is 
a slower operation than orally spelling it ; and as 
the mind is obliged in that exercise to dwell longer 
on the relative situation of every letter, than it is 
in mere pronunciation, the ortliogra])hj of the word 

* The absurdity of teaching the letters of the alphabet by their 
arbitrary names, in place of their sounds, has long been fell in France 
and Germany. We tell a child to say peaytch-wi-es-i-see, and then 
call upon him to pronounce it. What would he conclude, if he 
reasoned, but that it mnsihe peaytchwiesisee, and by what magic can 
he learn that it should be pronounced^ziA: ! A striking illustration 
of this occurred in a school which I visited. Two bright children 
of six years of age, could repeat every letter of a word at sight, and 
then would look up, with an innocent, inquiring face, to their 
teacher, unable to divine how this cabalistic combination of sounds 
should be pronounced together, until he repeated the word. It 
seems they had formerly been guided by the pictures of the objects 
annexed to the words, and had pronounced the name as they had 
learned to speak it. But, the perfect knowledge of the Utters afforded 
uo clue to the sound of the word. — JVoodbridge. 

6 



62 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

must be more deeply impressed on the memory by 
writing, than it can be in any other way. When, 
therefore, the learner has become able to write, 
this mode of teaching him to spell should by no 
means be neglected. 

" Reading should invariably precede spelling. I do 
not mean that the child should be kept a long time in 
learning to read, before he commences spelling ; but 
that he should never be set to spell a word until he has 
first become able readily to read it. The reason is, 
that reading is much easier than spelling, and that a 
person cannot spell by thinking hovr a word sounds^ 
but he must recollect how it looks. The eye, there- 
fore, as well as the ear, must become familiar with 
a word, before it can readily be spelled. One thing that 
renders reading easier than spelling,- is, that perception 
is more vivid and distinct than conception. Hence it is 
easier to distinguish two similar words, as cat and rat^ 
or eat and tea^ when the eye is fixed upon them in read- 
ing, than it is to recollect the difference in their orthog- 
raphy, when they are absent from the eye."* 

These judicious remarks coincide in the main, 
with the substance of a lecture upon this branch 
of tuition, delivered by another practical teacher, 
before the convention of teachers, assembled to 
form the American Institute of Instruction in 
1830. Both agree that the words to be spelled 
should first be embodied in reading lessons, and 

* Parkhurst. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 63 

afterwards arranged in columns ; and both insist 
that the evidence of their being possessed by the 
pupil should in all cases be rendered in writing. 
On this point the lecturer justly observes, — 

" III all branches susceptible of it, the exercises, the 
results of study, should be presented to the eye^ as the 
best organ of communication with the mind. What- 
ever is acquired through this medium, is better retained 
than when entering through any other. It may be said, 
the eye remembers. It is more attentive than the ear. 
Its objects are not confused. It takes in a single and 
perfect image of what is placed before it, and transfers 
the picture to the mind. Hence ail illustrations in our 
teaching which can possibly be addressed to this organ, 
should be so applied."* 

The plan pursued at the model-school in the 
Borough Road, which plan is fully explained in 
the Manual of the society, is perhaps the best that 
can be devised. 

" The spelling lessons, which are printed in both 
roman and italic type, to exercise the children in read- 
ing various characters, exhibit a two-fold arrangement. 
The names of things are arranged under various heads, 
such as trades, measures, vegetables, quadrupeds, cloth- 
ing, fruit, medicine, flowers, birds, &c. ; and columns 

* Thayer. Since the above was written, this lecture and several 
others of a similar character, delivered in the United States, have 
been reprinted in London, under the title of " the Schoolmaster," 
2 vols. Knight, Ludgate Hill. 



64 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

of other words are placed alphabeticallj. Tlie last 
fifteen lessons of the set consist of a selection of words, 
approximating in sound, but different in spelling and 
signification. They embrace the principal orthographi- 
cal irregularities of the language. The whole set con- 
sists of sixty folio lessons, containing, besides four 
alphabets, nearly six thousand words ; selected prima- 
rily for the purpose of communicating a complete 
knowledge of English orthography, and revised with 
the design of including a very extensive range of use- 
ful knowledge, and inducing habits of observation and 
inquiry. The plan of teaching is invariable throughout 
the series ; the pupils are expected to spell, read, and 
explain every word. Suppose, for instance, the word 
to be ' he.' The first boy would say h, e — he ; and 
the second boy would, without giving a regular defini- 
tion, express his sense of its meaning. He may be 
supposed to say, 'him;' or 'not me;' or, putting it 
in a sentence, say, ' he is here.' Any answer which 
indicates a knowledge of the word should be accepted, 
however homely either in language or illustration. The 
same remark applies to all the definitions they give : if 
the idea be correctly received, repeated demands for 
explanation will soon lead to more suitable language 
and more correct definitions. The two principal points 
to be attained by the pupil, are, the comprehension of 
the meaning of the term, and the power of expressing 
that meaning in suitable language. 

" The meanings of the words in the alphabetical col- 
umns, which are generally derivative, the pupils learn 
by being exercised in separating the prefixes and affixes, 
and then tracing the root through other combinations. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL* 65 

For instance, the word ' retrospective ;' the monitor 
would say, ' Separate it,' and the boys would reply, 
retro^ behind, spect^ look, and tion^ act or action. He 
would then say, ' What is the meaning of the word retro- 
spectionV and he would ask for other instances in 
which the root occurs. In-spect, pro-spect, spect-acle, 
circum-spect, re-spect, and other words, would be 
given."* 

The advantages of this system of interrogation 
are numerous and weighty. It teaches even the 
youngest child to apply every word as it is brought 
before him, from his earliest acquaintance with a 
written or printed language. It leads the mind 
direct from the w^ords to the legitimate use of 
them, the communication of ideas. By inducing 
the child to draw on the resources of its own 
mind, it teaches him to compare, to discrim- 
inate, to judge ; a process by which he is rendered 
capable of far greater mental exertion. It neces- 
sarily insures a habit of observation and scru- 
tinizing inquiry ; it occasions close application ; 
and it constantly calls upon the master rather to 
restrain than to excite. 



* See Manual of the System of Primary Instruction, pursued in 
the model-schools of the British and Foreign School Society. See 
also, on this subject, Wood's Account of the Edinburgh Sessional 
School. To Mr. Wood the cause of education is deeply indebted. 
He was certainly the first to call public attention to the importance 
of giving a more intellectual chojcdiCiQX io popular education; and by 
his unwearied exertions in the Sessional school he demonstrated the 
practicability of it. 

6* 



66 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Reading. It has often been observed, (and 
certainly not without sufficient reason,) that very 
few persons read well ! To read simply and 
naturally, — with animation and expression, is 
indeed a high and rare attainnient. What is 
generally called good readings is in fact the very 
worst kind of reading ; I mean that which calls 
the attention of the auditor from the subject of 
discourse, to the supposed taste and skill of the 
person who is pronouncing it. Ars est celare artem,* 
The best window is that which least intercepts the 
prospect ; and he is the best reader, who brings 
before us the mind of the author, unencumbered 
by the tints and tracery of his own style and 
manner. Still it must be remembered that, with 
most persons, reading is an art. The best readers 
are those who have most diligently studied their 
art ; studied it so well, that you do not perceive 
they have ever studied it at all. You so thoroughly 
understand, and so sensibly feel the force of what 
they say, that you never think for a moment how 
they are saying it, and you never know the exact 
extent of your obligation to the care and labor of 
the elocutionist. In many schools, little can be 
done beyond teaching the pupil to read in a plain 
and intelligent manner ; to pronounce with gene- 
ral correctness, and to avoid offensive, tones. 
You may probably wish to have a few rules, 

"" The perfection of art, is to conceal art. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 67 

by attention to which, this degree of proficiency 
may, in most cases, be secured. I will only men- 
tion four. 

1. Take care that the piqnl thoroughly understands 
that which he is directed to read. This is absolutely 
essential to his success. If he do not fully com- 
prehend the thought, how can he be expected ade- 
quately to express the Janguage in which it may 
be, clothed ? Attention to this point is jtist as 
important in the lowest as in the highest class. 
Indeed it is there (in the lowest class) that the habit 
of fully comprehending in the mind that which is 
presented to the eye, must be formed. The great 
evil of putting before children unmeaning com- 
binations of letters, such as " bla, ble, bli, bio, 
blu," and all the rest of this ridiculous tribe^ is, 
that in reading them, a hoMt is formed of sepa- 
rating the sight and sound of words from 
sense, a habit which frequently cleaves to the 
mind long after the days of childhood have passed 
away. If, therefore, jou would have a sentence 
well read, read so as to be understood and felt by 
the hearer, — take care that the reader himself 
both understands and feels it. The progress of 
your pupils, too, will by this means be greatly facil- 
itated. " He who is taught the habit of carrying 
the sense along with the sound, is armed with two 
forcesanstead of one, to grapple with the difficul- 
ties he encounters ; the one, his knowledge of the 



68 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

letters and syllables, and the other, his knowledge 
of the story."* 

2. Remember that the tones and em]^hasis which we 
use in conversation^ are those which form the basis of 
good elocution. Children should, therefore, be 
instructed to read as they talk. How often do you 
find young people describing, with an ease and 
vivacity which is truly charming, events which, 
if read by them in the very same terms from a 
book, would be insufferably dull and uninter- 
estino^ ! 

3. Gttard your pupils against rapidity and loud- 
ness. A rapid and noisy reader is, of all others, 
the most disagreeable ; and, at the same time, 
the most unintelligible. Insist, therefore, -upon 
a slow and distinct enunciation of every word ; 
without securing which, it will be impossible to 
obtain correct pronunciation, good emphasis, or 
suitable intonation. Slow reading, in a subdued 
tone of voice, is always most agreeable aAd 
impressive ; in the reading of the Holy Scrip- 
ture, the boisterous fluency which ignorant per- 
sons so frequently applaud, is irreverent and 
offensive. 

4. Do not permit too much to be read at one time. 
A good teacher can profitably occupy twenty or 
thirty minutes over a page, without at all weary- 

* Pillans. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 69 

ing his children. He will often have to say, *' I 
perceive you do not quite understand that pas- 
sage ; read it again." Then he will require defi- 
nitions of the leading words, their synonymes and 
their opposites ; then perhaps he will have the 
sentence analysed or paraphrased ; and after this, 
he will thoroughly explain every incidental allu- 
lusion, whether geographical, historical, or bio- 
graphical, w^hich may be involved in the passage. 
All this, it may be, must be done before that 
which is read can be thoroughly understood ; and 
he knows, (to return to the point whence we set 
out,) that until it is understood it can never be 
properly read. 

Ia^terrogation. Intimately connected with 
the point which I have been urging, is the prac- 
tice of interrogation ; the object of which, when 
rightly conducted, is two-fold : first, to ascertain 
satisfactorily that ideas, in distinction from mere 
words, are received by the pupil ; and, secondly, 
to afford opportunities for the communication of 
incidental instruction. 

There is no way in which the correctness or 
incorrectness of a child's ideas on anj^ subject can 
be so effectually ascertained, as by proposing a 
series of questions ; their extent and bearing being 
determined, for the most part, by the answers 
received. A teacher who has not been in the 
habit of doing this, can form no adequate notion 



70 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

of the amount of ignorance and misapprehension 
which this ploughshare of the mind will turn up. 

Now there are two methods in which a ten- 
dency to misconceive the meaning of words may 
be met ; and both must, as far as possible, be 
brought to bear upon the evil. The first is, — 
VISIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. Whcrcver the subject 
will admit of it, there is nothing equal to this kind 
of explanation. You will recollect an observation 
made some paragraphs back, ''the eye remem- 
bers ;" it might also be said, (although of course 
comparatively and subject to exception,) tlte eye 
makes no mistakes. A child has a very different, a 
much more perfect idea of that which it sees, than 
it can have of any thing which is incapable of 
being perceived by the senses ; its conceptions are 
generally v^gue and indistinct. 

Among the subjects which admit most easily of 
being explained by objects of sight, might be 
mentioned the various branches of natural history, 
and the physical sciences generall}^ • In some of 
these the object itself can. be called in, and in 
others detached portions of it. In the absence of 
the object itself, or any part of it, a model, a 
graphic representation, an outline, or a diagram, 
will suffice ; but something of the kind must, if 
possible, be presented. Hence the importance of 
schools being provided with specimens of as many 
different things as possible, and of' children being 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 71 

taught to cultivate habks of observation and 
inquiry. It is in many respects of the highest 
importance to teach children to discern the 
most minute differences and resemblances in 
objects which they can examine ; the eye, the 
ear, the touch, the taste, the smell, should all be 
educated, by exercise on a great variety of objects. 
If the perceptive faculties be not carefully culti- 
vated, it is impossible that the conceptions of a 
child can be either ready or accurate. 

An example of the striking effect of specimens 
in aiding the imagination, is thus related bj^ an 
eye-witness. ''When a delegation of one of the 
most savage of the western tribes, a few years 
since, passed through Philadelphia, they were 
invited to visit the museum. Finding therein 
many of their quadruped acquaintance, with 
various implements of their own warfare, and a 
vast number of objects before unknown to them, 
they were naturally much delighted with the cele- 
brated establishment, and expressed (as far as an 
Indian ever deigns to express it) their admiration 
of the novel spectacle. Divers ejaculations, and 
some obscure signs of relaxed gravity, were occa- 
sionally observable during their progress through 
the rooms, until they came to that part of the 
hall where the skeleton of the huge mastodon 
stood all at once revealed to their bewildered 
senses. The awe which seemed to come over 
them now deprived their tongues of utterance, 



72 " SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

and held their eyes fixed* in the direction of the 
vast black bony structure, as if it had been an 
object of adoration. Such, it was said, their tribe 
are in the habit of regarding the mammoth ; and 
as it had all their lives before been merely a crea- 
ture of the imagination, or seen only in detached 
portions, its real bulk and proportions had proba- 
bly never before been adequately conceived." 

There will, however, sometimes be found mat- 
ters of science, which we can neither bring before 
the eye, nor explain to the comprehension of a 
child, and these he must be taught to receive on 
the evidence of testimony. It is important to 
guard the youthful mind against that contracted 
habit of thinking and reasoning, which" makes its 
own knowledge and extent of observation the 
standard of probability. It was under the influ- 
ence of this narrow and skeptical spirit that Mr» 
Hume maintained, that a miracle being contrary 
to experience, could not be established by >any 
human testimony. And it was with equal reason 
and propriety that the king of Siam, when informed 
by a foreigner at his court, that in some parts of 
Europe, at certain seasons of the year, water 
became so solid that an elephant might walk over 
it, told the narrator, without much ceremony, that 
he lied. In many cases, however, in the absence 
of ocular demonstration, it is possible to adopt 
an aiialogous fact or principle ; and, wherever this 
can be done in the way of illustration, it is of 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 73 

course highly desirable. Had it happened that 
any one at the court of Siam had been acquainted 
with the properties of heat, and capable of per- 
forming the requisite experiments, the unbelief of 
his majesty might easily have been removed, and 
his confidence in testimony fully restored. 

But besides this mode of illustration, it is some- 
times necessary to carry out to a considerable 
extent, the practice of accustoming the pupil to 
separate the prefixes and affixes of words, and to 
trace the root through other combinations. Let 
me, however, in connection with this subject, 
earnestly warn you against pushing this kind of 
investigation too far. I have known some teach- 
ers, partly perhaps from vanity, and partly from 
ignorance, make themselves exceedingly ridicu- 
lous by attempting to meddle with Latin and 
Greek roots, before they were at all acquainted 
with either of these languages. To a certain, but 
very limited extent, this may be done wifh safety ; 
beyond that limitation, the practice is manifestly 
absurd, and sure to lead all parties into error. 
The best advice that can be given to a young 
teacher on this subject probably is this, — ''So long- 
as you are unacquainted with Latin and Greek, 
confine your etymological researches to the sim- 
plest examples that are given in elementary books 
prepared for this purpose ; when you have mas- 
tered these languages, you may go as far as you 

please.^' 

7 



74 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Incidental teaching, by which I mean the 
practice of communicating general knowledge in 
an incidental and unsystematic manner, although 
not liable to the same abuse, still needs to be 
imparted with judgment and caution. It should 
never be forgotten, that in science, as well as in 
religion, there are many things which a "babe" 
in knowledge is " not able to bear." Some teach- 
^ers, in the plenitude of their zeal to impart, or 
rather perhaps in their anxiety to disjjlaij^ are 
accustomed to cram mere children with a kind of 
food which their tender minds can never digest. 
This is on every account highly objectionable. 
The mere accumulation of facts in the memory is 
of trifling value, if unaccompanied by the devel- 
opment and training of the faculties. A mind 
filled with the results of other men's research, and 
unacquainted with the steps and processes of the 
proof, may, as Beattie remarks, fitly enough be 
compared to a well-filled granary, but bears no 
resemblance to the fruitful field, which multiplies 
that which is cast into its lap a thousand fold. 

Writing. On this subject a very few hints 
must suffice. 1. Bear in mind, that your pupil's 
-success mainly depends upon the attention paid 
to him when Jirst beginning to write. It is then 
that habits are formed, which he will find it after- 
wards almost impossible to alter. 2. Let writing 
on slate precede the use of pen and paper. The 
forms and combinations of letters will most read- 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 75 

ily be attained in this way ; and when that is done, 
no great difficulty will be found in accustoming the 
pupil to the use of the pen. 3. Let not the pupil 
attempt what is termed '' small hand," until he 
can write a good bold text hand with neatness and 
accuracy. 4. When he comes to learn the cur- 
rent or running hand, let him be taught that 
neither legibility nor elegance will do without 
expedition. Accustom him, therefore, to write 
freely from dictation. 

The most approved rules for preserving a right 
position of the body, for holding the pen, and for 
effecting the various movements and combma- 
tions by which the letters are to be exequted, 
though highly important for you to know^ w^ould 
yet be out of place here. For these particulars 
you must study the best treatises on the art of 
penmanship. 

The onty other points to which it is necessary for 
me to allude, are these. 1. Materials for writing 
should be of good quality, — it is not economical 
to use inferior articles. Steel pens, which may 
now be purchased at a very reasonable rate, are 
in every respect preferable to those which are 
made from quills ; they are cheaper, they need 
no mending, and they execute the letters with 
greater neatness and precision. 2. Every liiie 
should be examined as it is written. The habit 
which prevails in some schools, of writing a page 
before examination, is highly pernicious ; quality 



76 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

in writing should at all times be regarded rather 
than quantity. 

Arithmetic. In teaching arithmetic, regard 
must be had to the same great jprinciples which 
have already been laid dow^n in relation to other 
branches of knowledge. Nothing must be con- 
sidered as done, that is not thoroughly compre- 
hended ; a meaning and a reason, must be attached 
to every step of the process. Begin, therefore, 
first of all, by referring the pupil to sensible objects, 
and teach him to compute what he can see, before 
you perplex him with abstract conceptions. A 
mere infant may in this way be taught to add, 
subtract, multiply, and divide, to a considerable 
extent. Apparatus for this purpose, of various 
kinds, is already in use ; but what need have you 
of apparatus ? Every thing around you and 
about you may be made subservient to this end. 

It will not do, however, to stop here. The 
mind must before long be accustomed to abstrac- 
tions, and therefore the sooner you can teach a 
child to convert this tangible arithmetic into 
abstractions, the better. You will do this to 
some extent, by drawing its attention to what has 
been called, aptly enough, *' tJie process of disentan- 
glement,'^'' 

" You take a skein of ruffled thread ; and, if you 
can find the end, you carefully draw it through all its 
loops and knots, and in a few minutes it is unravelled. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. ' 77 

Now just in this manner must the minds of children be 
exercised in finding out the truth of some abstract prop- 
osition. To a mind not so exercised, a very simple 
question \vill be extremely formidable. How often have 
not only children, but their elders, been puzzled by the 
simple question, ' What is two- thirds of three-fourths 
of any thing V Now to get at the truth required here, 
it will be seen how necessary it is to get at that part of 
the proposition that can be laid hold of; that is to say, 
the part to which the mind can attach, from its being 
something known : it would in this case, of course, see 
first that three-fourths were three-quarters ; and then it 
would soon discover that two quarters, the two-thirds 
of them, must be half. We give this and other illustra- 
tions, to show that, by applying the analytic process 
properly, a very small quantity of real knowledge will 
produce a very large proportion of arithmetical power; 
therefore it is not so much the knowledge that may be 
fixed dogmatically in the mind, that will serve your 
purpose, as that which the mind itself evolves in its 
process of elaboration. It will be the business of the 
teacher to help the mind to create its own strength, and 
this he will do by subjecting it to wholesome and judi- 
cious exercise. '* 

TaTcecare that your ptqnl never proceeds to a second 
example in any rule, initil you are quite sure that he 
thoroughly understands the first. No matter what 
time may be consumed upon this introductory 
effort, — he must not be allowed to go on with 

* Educational Magazine. — Method of Teaching Mental Arith- 
metic. 



7S SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

partial and inaccurate notions of what he is about. 
You will often be deceived in this particular. It 
is necessary, therefore, when a result is obtained, 
to require an explanation of every step by which 
it has been reached ; to demand whij that particu- 
lar course, in preference to any other, should have 
been pursued ; and to ascertain whether the pupil 
so far understands the reasons of the process, that 
he could, if he chose, in conformity with those 
reasons, adopt other modes of arriving at the 
same conclusion. 

" Two persons never have exactly the same associa- 
tions of ideas ; theynever associate their ideas in exactly 
the same order. The consequence is, that no two 
persons think of the same proposition alike. Hence, a 
proposition expressed in certain terms, may be very 
clear and intelligible to one person, and very obscure, 
or altogether unintelligible, to another ; and perhaps, 
with a very slight change of terms, the case would be 
entirely changed. It would be intelligible to the latter, 
and unintelligible to the former. An explanation which 
is very clear and lucid to one, will often convey no idea 
at all to another. When a proposition is made for two 
persons to reason upon, they will often take it up and 
manage it very differently in their minds. When the 
subject is such as to admit of demonstration, as is the 
case with mathematics, they will generally come to the 
same conclusions. But on other subjects their conclu- 
sions will sometimes agree and sometimes not. There 
are several valuable practical results to be derived from 
this. First, it is very important that the teacher should 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 79 

be able readily to trace, not only his own associations, 
but those of all his pupils. When a proposition or 
question is made to a scholar, he ought to be able to 
discover at once whether the scholar understands it or 
not. If he does not understand it, the teacher should 
be able to discover the reason why, and then he can 
apply the remedy. This is to be done only by question- 
ing the scholar and tracing his associations, and finding 
out what he is thinking about, and how he is think- 
ing about it. Without doing this, the teacher is as 
likely to perplex the scholar as to assist him by his 
explanations. Secondly, when a scholar does not 
understand the question or proposition, he should be 
allowed to reason upon it in his own way, and agree- 
ably to his own associations. Whether his way is the 
best or not on the whole, it is the best way for him 
at first, and he ought by no means to be interrupted in 
it, or forced out of it. If teachers would have patience 
to listen to their scholars, and examine their operations, 
they would frequently discover very good ways that had 
never occurred to them before."* 

Rules which are seldom understood^ and scarcely 
eveV viewed in connection with the principles on 
which they are based, are of little use to children. 
The business of the teacher is, not to send his 
pupil to an unintelligible rule, but first to make 
him see the dificulties of the question which has 
baffled his ingenuity ; then to lead him on, hy a 
sxiccession of questions^ to discern the principle he is 

* Colbiirn's Lecture on Teaching Arithmetic. 



80 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

in search of; and, finally, to let truth so break 
upon his mind, that, by the possession of it, he 
maybe only incited to pursue with fresh vigor other 
and more difficult investigations. Arithmetic thus 
taught, becomes a fine mental discipline, and 
strengthens the intellectual powers, instead of 
resting only in the memory. 

But in order to carry on this mode of tuition, 
your own explanations must he clear and simple. ' ' Will 
you please to tell me why I carry one for every 
ten?" said a child to her instructor. ''Yes," 
rephed he, kindly, '' it is because numbers increase 
from right to left in a decimal ratio." The child 
sat, repeated the information she had received to 
herself two or three times, and then looked sad. 
The master, as soon as he had answered, pur- 
sued his other business, and did not notice her. 
She w^as disappointed. She understood him no 
better than if he had used words in another lan- 
guage. '' Decimal," and " Ratio," were words 
that might have fallen on her ear before ; but if 
so, she understood them none the better for it. 
She looked in the dictionary, and was disap- 
pointed again ; and, after some time, put away 
her arithmetic. When asked why she did so, 
she replied, " I don't like to study it, I cannot 
understand it."* I may safely leave you to make 
the application. 

"" Hall's Lectures to School-masters on Teaching 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 81 

Again. You should never tmderrate the difficulties 
ofyourpujjils. A child will not apply vigorously, 
unless it sees that its efforts are appreciated ; 
unless it perceives that you recognise the differ- 
ence between its capacity and your own. The 
attention which such a one can give to a difficult 
process is at best but limited ; the intellect is soon 
exhausted, and the effort it makes is often pain- 
ful while it lasts. Do not then strain the muscles 
of its mind, or cause its Uttle feet to bleed, by an 
unreasonable forgetfulness, either of its short 
footsteps, or of the difficulties of the way. "A 
good school-master," says old Fuller, " minces 
his precepts for children to swallow, hanging 
clogs on the nimbleness of his own soul, that his 
scholars may go along with him." 

In the working of arithmetical questions, two 
points must be kept constantly in view, — correct- 
ness and dispatch. The attainment of the latter 
is often a matter of great difficulty. To supply 
this defect, (the want of rapidity,) contracted 
methods on the slate should be encouraged, such 
as bringing the number of tons, hundred weights, 
quarters, and pounds, into pounds, in one Hne; 
working by aliquot parts and approximations ; or 
calculating part of a question abstractedly, and 
part on the slate. A great variety of questions 
should also be given specially for pure mental 
solution. 



82 SCHOOL teacher's ' MANUAL. 

I need only further suggest on this subject, the 
importance of guarding the pupil against lassitude 
and inattention. To this end, take care that yoicr 
qtiestions follow one another with the utmost rabidity. 
If long pauses are permitted between questions, 
the children are sure to fill up the interval with 
thoughts not at all in accordance with the subject 
before them. You must allow them no time to 
wander. It is obvious, however, that such an 
exercise cannot be long continued. Fifteen or 
twenty minutes is quite sufficient at once ; the 
moment the mind flags, it is time to stop. You 
will gain nothing by straining faculties, which can 
never be exercised beneficially but in a healthy 
state. This remark, I need scarcely say, applies 
to every other branch of learning, just as much as 
to arithmetic. We can scarcely commit a greater 
error in education, than that of wearying the atten- 
tion by attempting too much at once. Progress in 
any intellectual pursuit depends, much more upon 
intensity of application, than upon protracted 
study. To produce languor by overworking^ the 
mind, is to inflict a very deep and serious injury ; 
such a result should therefore most anxiously be 
avoided. 

Grammar. * * I learned grammar (says William 
Cobbett) when I was a private soldier on the pay 
of sixpence a day. The edge of my berth, or that 
of my guard bed, was my seat to study in ; my 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 83 

knapsack was my book-case, and a bit of board 
lying on my lap was my writing-table. I had no 
money to purchase candle or oil ; in winter time it 
was rarely that I could get any evening light but 
that of the jire^ and only my turn even of that. 
To buy a pen or sheet of paper, I was compelled 
to forego some portion oi food^ though in a state of 
half starvation ; I had no moment of time that I 
could call my ow^n ; and I had to read and write 
amidst the talking, laughing, singing, whistling, 
and bawUng," of at least half a score of the most 
thoughtless of men, and that too in the hours of 
their freedom from all control. And, I say, if I, 
under circumstances like these, could encounter 
and overcome the task, is there, can there be, in 
the whole world, a youth to find an excuse for the 
non-performance ?'' 

. But before either a youth or a child will heartily 
set about this task, he must be convinced of its 
utility ; and he must be made to understand the 
nature and object of the study. On this point a 
great deal of misapprehension prevails. A boy 
who is presented with a string of definitions and 
rules, without being made acquainted with the 
priilciples on w^hich these rules depend, never 
dreams that the dull lesson naturally arises out of 
the constitution of the very language he is using 
every day. It never once occurs to him, that the 
Enghsh tongue controls the English grammar; he 



84 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Imagines, on the contrary , -that grammar gives the 
law, and that language must obey. 

Perhaps he might be set right on this matter 
most readily, by its being briefly explained to him, 
how a missionary, for instance, thrown among a 
barbarous people, having an tmwritten lang-uage, 
would proceed in order to form a grammar of that 
language. He might easily be made to under- 
stand how the whole procedure of #the missionary 
would be guided and controlled by the usage of 
the barbarians ; that he must take his laws from 
their practice ; that he could not, in any case, 
give laws to them. In short, that his sole province 
as a grammarian would be, to ascertain and unfold, 
to classify and embody, existing usages. 

It is precisely on this principle that grammar 
should be taught. The information (which is 
conveyed orally) should be imparted in connec- 
tion with questions grounded on this view of the 
subject. 

" The teacher might commence the conversation by 
remarking, in as clear a manner as possible, that every 
word in the language, like every boy in the school, 
belongs to some class. Stopping some seconds to 
ascertain that this simple fact was well understood, he 
might remark, that the only difference is, there are eight 
classes of boys in the school, but nine classes of words, 
^^his would be followed by saying, ' Tell me the names 
of any things you see.' A number of things being 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 85 

named, he would say, 'Tell me the names of some 
things which you cannot see.' Several being men- 
tioned, the question would be put, ' What have you 
told me about these things V Ans. ' Their names.' 
Now the teacher would observe, all these names which 
you have mentioned belong to one class ; the name of 
that class is, ' Nouns ;^ all names belong to it, foF the 
word Noun means Name. Goodness, Justice, Height, 
Depth, Length, and Breadth, and every name you 
can possibly find, even * Nothing' itself belongs there- 
fore to this class, because it and all these are names. 

"Having proceeded thus far^ he would judge it desira- 
ble to retrace his steps, to ascertain if he were tho- 
roughly understood. He would therefore ask one, a 
dull boy in the draft, 'How many classes of words are 
there V Another, ' What is the name of the class of 
words about which we have been speaking V A third, 
'What is the meaning of the word Noun V A fourth 
would be asked to mention some name which did not 
belong to it; a fifth, what part of speech Nothing was. 
In this manner the teacher would ascertain if the atten- 
tion of the class had been efi'ectually directed to him. 
Pursuing his subject, he would ask them to mention a 
name. Supposmg ' desk," to be mentioned, the ques- 
tion would follow, ' Tell me something about desk.' 
They would mention long, narrow, wooden, strong, and 
other qualities, in rapid succession. The draft thus 
exercised would be led to discover that these are quali- 
ties, and although intimately connected with, are not 
nouns themselves. To assign these to another class, 
and to give it the name of ^ Adjective,^ proposing some 
8 



86 SCHOOL TEACHER S MANUAL. 

questions to insure his being thoroughly understood, 
would be his next object. 

" The verb would be introduced, by asking them to 
tell him some word which implied motion. ' Fly,' ' run,' 
* go,' and many others being given, he would class them 
under the name of ' Verbs,^ Some general questions 
would again ensue. 

" Proceeding with his subject, he would ask them to 
mention one of the verbs they had just named ; per- 
haps ' speak' would be selected. ' Tell me,' he would 
say, 'howl speak r Ans. 'Slowly.' Quest. ' In what 
other ways might a person speak V Ans, ' Quickly, 
loudly, softly, intelligibly, roughly.' Quest, ' What do 
all these express 1' Ans. 'The manner of speaking. 
Remember, then, all words which express the manner 
of acting, are ranked in a separate class, called ' Ad- 
verbs.^ Quest. ' What is the meaning of the word Ad- 
verb V Ans. ' To a verb.' Quest, ' What is the differ- 
ence between an adjective and an adverb V Ans, ' An 
adjective expresses the quality of a noun, an adverb 
the quality of a verb.' Quest, ' Is it correct to say the 
sea is smoothly V Ans. ' No.' Quest, ' Why V Ans. 
' Because sea is a noun, and requires an adjective.' 
Quest. ' If I speak of the saihng of a ship, must I use 
the word calm or calmly V Ans, « Calmly.' Quest. 
* Whyl' Ans. ' Because sailing is an action.' 

" The Pronoun is of very easy introduction ; its name 
' for a noun,' sufficiently expresses its use, and a few 
examples are all that in this stage of the business is 
necessary. The Articles require only naming, referring 
to a few instances in which they arc used j and Inter-' 
jections are as readily distinguished. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 87 

" The distinctions of these seven parts being well 
impressed on the mind of the pupils, the teacher pro- 
ceeds to the remaining two, which at the first glance, do 
not appear to admit of a very clear separation. The 
one is illustrated by the teacher's taking a slate in his 
hand, and saying, ' Tell me all the words you can think 
of, which express situation in reference to this slate.' 
The answers, ' above,' ' below,' ' imder,' &c., will bring 
forth the Prepositions^ and a reference to a hinge, will 
explain the Conjunction^ which, when the other eight 
are known, requires no further distinction. 

" When the class has arrived at this point, the teacher 
reads some sentences from his book, and requires each 
boy in turn, to class the words and give his reasons; 
Being well prepared for this exercise, it is rarely of 
long continuance. In the ensuing lessons, it would be 
observed that the articles, — the gender, and properties 
of nouns, — the degrees of comparison in adjectives and 
adverbs,— the kind of verbs, and the varieties of the 
pronoun, have all relation to the number three. This 
presents an opportunity of giving a sure and ready index 
to these variations which so often and so long perplex 
master and pupils. Thus learned, they are obtained at 
once and forever. 

" The influence of one word on another, or syntac- 
tical parsing, is now easily unfolded. A sentence being 
read, the teacher, at his discretion, makes various alter- 
ations in its construction, each of which is made the 
subject of inquiry. Care being taken that the difiicul- 
ties are seen and felt, the teacher gradually leads the 
pupils by questions to their elucidation. Other sen- 
tences of a similar kind are then introduced, and the 



88 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

rule comes in as the result of their own observation and 
inquiry. It is thus seen to rise necessarily out of the 
language, instead of being arbitrary and indefinite ; 
and so far from being a burden on the memory, and 
exciting disgust, it is welcomed as the result of a clear 
investigation, and cherished in the memory, from a 
thorough conviction of its truth and suitability." 

GEoaRAPHY. All practical writers, of any 
value, now agree that the best mode of imparting 
instruction in geography, is, to begin at home ; to 
teach a child the geography of its own parish, 
county, and country, before you attempt to intro- 
duce it to other parts of the world. It is obvious, 
that a learner can form no clear conception of the 
height of mountains, of the course of rivers, or of 
the nature of the great divisions of the earth, 
excepting as he can compare what he reads with 
that which he sees around him. Nothing, there- 
fore, can be more absurd than to begin by intro- 
ducing a child to the map of the w^orld ; or to go 
on filUng its head with geographical descriptions 
of Africa, China, or Russian Tartary, before it is 
at all acquainted with its own country. 

In like manner, if you wish a child to have 
correct notions about lakes, islands, or isth- 
muses, you will be much more likely to insure his 
possessing them, by referring him to the peculiar- 
ities of a neighboring pond or rivulet, than by 
any abstract description whatever. The name of 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 89 

mountain, and valley, and lake, and river, should 
indeed be invariably connected with the observa- 
tion of hill and hollow, pond and brook. 

Again, with regard to the relative situation of 
distant places, a knowledge of which can only be 
obtained through maps, remember, that the pupil 
will only gain hiowledge from looking at a map, in 
proportion as he is taught to associate the lines 
and spots of the map with the objects they repre- 
sent. It is of no use setting him to gaze at dots, 
to remember their situations on the paper, or to 
recite the name attached to them in the book ; 
unless the mind be accustomed at the same time 
to realize the objects they denote, and to recognise 
all this arrangement on paper, as nothing more than 
an aid to the imagination. 

"We have had," says an able writer, " the details of 
an instance in which a child of two years old, could 
point to every line and spot upon the map of Europe, 
only on hearing its name, before he could yet pronounce 
a word. But while we mourn over the mistaken kind^ 
ness which could thus prepare an infant for the prema- 
ture grave to which he descended, we do not envy the 
reputation of that teacher, who would be satisfied with 
making his pupils equally expert in this parrot-like 
exercise. We fear there are many such instances ; nay, 
we suspect there are many schools where the ideas 
derived from the map, are just such as would be 
obtained from studying those charts of human life 
which represent an event by a promontory, difficulty by 
8* 



90 SCHOOL teacher's manuai*. 

a whirlpool, and death by a torrent or waterfall, ter- 
minating in the beautifully ornamented border, that sur- 
rounds this picture of time and history ! We are only 
less liable to be imposed upon by that which pretends 
to represent invisible things. 

" The first step necessary to enable the pupil to acquire 
ideas from representation, is to teach him the relation 
of the one to the other. Even the effect of pictures is 
often lost upon the young mind for want of a practical 
knowledge, or perception of perspective ; and he sup- 
poses objects smaller or higher, from their appearance 
on the picture, or darker from their shade, because he 
has never been taught to observe the effect of distance 
and light. How much more liable is he to error, in 
regard to the naked outlines, or mere indices of great 
objects, presented on a map ! I know not any mode 
so effectual to make the pupil familiar with the nature 
of maps, as to teach him to construct them from nature, 
and this may be accomplished, at the same time that 
he is learning to observe the objects around him. 

"Let the course of observation to which we have 
referred, be extended to every thing within his horizon, 
and let him learn the individual name attached to every 
object of importance. Let him learn to observe them 
from different points of view. Point out to him the 
varying position of the sun. Let him observe its direc- 
tion in the morning, at noon, and at evening, — and then 
show him the north star, and he will thus find the marks 
for the four standard points to which he is to refer all 
descriptions of the situations of places. Let the terms 
east^ souths west, and north, be attached to these points, 
only when he has learned the need of them; and not be 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 91 

employed before he has acquired distinct ideas of them. 
Let him observe the direction of the great objects of the 
landscape, first from one prominent point, then from 
another. Let him notice those which are in a range or 
' roup with each other from his station — those which are 
on opposite sides — those which would form a triangle — 
and those which would make a square, or a cross, and 
thus fix the positions of every important place in his 
mind, so that he could sketch a map of these points and 
lines from his imagination as well as from direct per- 
ception. 

" But he must in the mean time be taught the con- 
struction of maps of a much smaller space. Let him 
draw upon the slate, no matter how rudely, a square to 
represent the table upon which he is writing, or the 
room in which he is sitting. If practicable, let him look 
down upon it from the ceiling above; but in any event, 
let him mark the spot on which every object is placed, 
with its size and shape, as it would appear from above. 
As soon as he has repeated this so often, that he per- 
ceives the want of accuracy in his rude representations, 
furnish him with a scale to measure the room or the 
table, and the distance of the respective objects from 
each other ; and supply him with a smaller rule, adapted 
to the size of his slate, divided into an equal number of 
parts. Then direct him to transfer, after the measure- 
ment of every line or distance with the larger rule, an 
equal number of parts with the smaller upon his slate, 
until every object is represented in proportionate size, 
and relative situation, with a good degree of accuracy. 
This he will be told is 3. plan or map ; and as his obser- 
vations abroad are going on, he will probably be him^ 



92 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

self anxious to employ the same method to represent 
the various objects of the landscape before him. He 
should be led on, however, hy graduated steps. Let 
him draw an entire plan of the house in vrhich he lives, 
of the garden attached to it, and of the farm or grounds 
around it. So far as it is practicable, let every effort be 
followed by measurement, as in the map of a room, in 
order that the habit of accurate observation, so valuable 
in life, may be cultivated, at the same time that he 
acquires a correct idea of distances. 

" The pupil will now be prepared to delineate with 
more or less accuracy, the outlines of the country around 
him, and by observing carefully the ranges of objects, 
he may arrive at a tolerable degree of accuracy by mere 
inspection. He should be accustomed also to ascertain 
short distances by paces, and longer ones by an accurate 
observation of the time which is spent in passing over 
them, either on foot or in a carriage, and to register all 
the circumstances which are necessary for his map. As 
his perception of accuracy increases, he may be taught 
to trace the deviations from a straight line in a stream 
or a road ; and if circumstances admit, he should be 
allowed the use of a chain or tape measure and a com- 
pass, as soon as he is capable of employing them. 

*' Such is the course it is desirable to pursue in order 
to be fully prepared for the study of maps; and I know 
not how we can otherwise avoid the danofer of false or 
imperfect conceptions, which will destroy half their 
value to the pupil. It is obvious, that it might be, and 
ought to be, commenced in the nursery, under the direc- 
tion of its mother. It would serve as the amusement of 
many a listless moment, a^ soon as the child can use ^ 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 93 

slate and pencil. It might be carried on by any parent, 
who can spend two or three hours in a week with his 
children, before they are ten years of age. If they are 
left to begin at school, no reason can be given why it 
should not be adopted by the instructor of a boarding- 
school. Indeed, there are few teachers of common 
schools, whose influence and usefulness with their pupils 
would not be increased, and whose labor would not be 
on the whole lightened, by the extra lessons and little 
excursions which it would render necessary. 

" After the pupil has become familiar with the con- 
struction of these simple maps, he should be taught to 
draw them on every variety of scale, until he ceases to 
think of the size of the map before him, and by imme- 
diate reference to the scale of measurement, should 
learn to perceive at once, through the medium of a map, 
the great objects which it represents, instead of the lines 
and points upon its surface, just as we receive ideas 
through the medium of words. It will also facilitate 
his transition to other maps, if he be accustomed to 
draw a meridian through some prominent object, from 
an observation of the North star, or a shadow at noon- 
day and to divide the map by other lines, drawn paral- 
lel and perpendicular to it, at regular distances. It will 
aid still farther in his transitions, if the central line from 
east to west be assumed as an equator^ and distances 
be reckoned in both directions, from this and the first 
meridian. 

" It is scarcely necessary to add, that as no descrip- 
tion can be equally useful with the view of objects them- 
selves, it is desirable that the pupil should learn the 



94 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

geography of the neighboring country, as well as his 
own town, as much as possible, from personal observa- 
tion, and be accustomed to describe and delineate its 
outlines. It should only be after his own sketches are 
executed, that he should be furnished with more com- 
plete engraved maps of the same region. 

" Let me not be told that this is theory, plausible 
upon paper, but impracticable in its execution. It is but 
the history of what has been done and still is done, in the 
schools of Pestilozzi and his followers in Europe ; and 
is in substance what must be done, by every one who is 
designed to be a topographical or military engineer. It 
would require little more time, thus to learn to delineate 
the great features of a country, if it were commenced 
at an early period, than it now does to imitate the letters 
of the alphabet. Every step is, in itself, perfectly prac- 
ticable and easy. Only time and patience are neces- 
sary to combine them all, in an ordinary course of 
instruction. Where either of these fail, or where pre- 
judice and avarice prevent the over-tasked instructor 
from adopting this entire course, much may be done by 
devoting two or three hours in a week, for a short 
period, to this object. Some measures of this kind 
should always be taken, to prevent the blunders to which 
the uninitiated pupil is continually liable."* 

* I am sure no apology will be necessary for this long extract from 
a lecture delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, by 
the Rev. William C^ Woodbridge. I am unwilling to keep back a 
paper so likely to be valuable, in order to make room for any obser- 
vations of my own. I perfectly agree with him in what he has 
advanced; the principle is fully adopted in the Borough School. 



SCHOOT. teacher's MANUAL. 95 

Geometry, the elements of Natural Philo- 
sophy, Linear Drawing, and several other 
branches of knowledge, which are now intro- 
duced with great advantage into schools, fall under 
the same general principles. The limits which I 
have thought it most expedient to prescribe for 
myself, will not allow of any lengthened observa- 
tions on the best modes of teaching them. In all 
it will be found desirable, first to awaken, and then 
to gratify curiosity. Visible illustrations should, 
if possible, be presented. A cone cut into several 
sections, viz. the circle, elhpse, triangle, parabola, 
and hyperbola, will render important aid in getting 
clear and distinct impressions of the elementary 
principles of conic sections ; and a cube, and the 
various species of parallelopipeds, may be laid 
before a child with great advantage, in imparting 
the first principles of solid measure. ''How few 
(says the writer I have so frequently quoted) in our 
schools, or among farmers or mechanics, have a 
clear and distinct idea of what is meant by a 
cube, or solid inch, or foot, or mile ! And, until a 
person has a clear conception of that original ele- 
mentary idea in solids, how can he move one step 
on the subject, except by groping in midnight 
darkness ? And how is he to gain a conception 
of that idea, except by some familiar practical 
illustration ? Three or four j^ears ago, a gentle- 
man sold a right of some water for carrying a mill. 
The quantity first agreed upon, was a stream 



96 SCHOOL TEACHEJl's MANUAL. 

which could be discharged through a two-inch 
tube. When asked what he should charge for the 
quantity which could pass through a four-inch 
tube, he answered, ' Twice the price of the other.' 
The purchaser, of course, obtained four times the 
water for twice the money, as a tax upon the sel- 
ler's ignorance ; which a glance at a diagram 
might have removed."* In Land Surveying, 
nothing equals the chain in the field for exciting 
the mind. Rules will always be sought with 
eagerness, when operations demand them. 

Linear Drawing is a branch of instruction to 
which a high degree of importance should be 
attached, both as a means of improving the per- 
ceptive powers, and as auxiliary to almost every 
branch of art. It ought on no account to be neg- 
lected. The best plan that can be pursued, prob- 
ably is, to commence with simple geometrical lines 
and figures ; then to make the pupil execute ani- 
mals, or other objects- ; and then maps and charts. 
Further than this, you may not find it either prac- 
ticable or desirable to go. 

In our common schools, more importance 
should be attached to the study of Composition. 
It has been too much neglected. Under suita- 
ble regulations this exercise might be rendered 
highly salutary, not only as a discipline of the 
mind, but as a means of moral improvement. 

^Machinery o£ Education, by the Rev. Win. C. Woodbridge. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 97 

Perhaps the best way of introducing such a prac- 
tice, is, for the teacher to read a short and striking 
narrative ; requiring the pupils, first to listen atten- 
tively, and then to write upon their slates as much 
of it as they can in their own words. They might 
in this way be trained to habits of attention ; and 
at the same time be tested as to their proficiency 
in writing, spelling, grammar, and the formation of 
sentences. 

In all you do, however, remember that The 
great object of your care should he to form good men- 
tal HABITS ; to accustom children to discern 
betwixt good and evil ; and to teach them, not 
only how to acquire knowledge, but how to apply 
it. A mind may be filled with all the " Imowledge 
and mysteries" of other men, but it is "poor and 
miserable" still, if it wants the judgment or the 
vigor, necessary to use its .attainments with pro- 
priety and effect. 

The habit, for instance, of attention to abso- 
lute ACCURACY, is not merely important in the 
acquisition of knowledge ; it has much to do with 
the happiness or misery of life. " How many of 
t^he most mischievous falsehoods and calumnies 
originate from the want of this habit ! How often 
do suspicion, and jealousy, and coolness, and even 
enmity, originate in families and in society, simply 
from an inaccurate description or narrative ! And 
how often is there reason to fear that the innocent 
suffer, and the guilty escape, in our courts of jus- 
9 



98 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

tice, from similar causes ! It will require but a 
little attention to the manner in which witnesses of 
real honesty, and under the sanction of an oath, 
often give their testimony, and the totally new 
aspect which the narrative assumes, under the 
cross-examination of an acute advocate, to per- 
ceive the immense importance of cultivating a fac- 
ulty on which the life of others often depends."* 

Now, accuracy in statement, where there is no 
wish to deceive, depends entirely on the power of 
the MEMORY ; and memory again depends on 
habits of attention : every pursuit, therefore, that 
tends to cultivate this faculty, should be regarded 
as valuable, not merely as affording additional 
power for acquiring knowledge, but also as deter- 
mining character. 

But ATTENTION, as cvcry one knows, is very 
much influenced by habit; so much so, indeed, 
that processes, which in the first instance require 
the closest attention, are after a time performed 
without any effort whatever. This is illustrated 
every day, in the rapidity with which we combine 
columns of figures. In like manner, a person little 
accustomed to intellectual processes, advances 
step by step, with minute attention to each as he 
proceeds ; while another perceives at once the 
result, with little consciousness of the steps by 
which he arrived at it. "For this reason it fre- 

* Sketches of HofwyL 



SCHOOL TEACITEr's MANUAL. 99 

quently happens, that m certain departments of 
science, 'the profound philosopher mates a bad 
teacher. He proceeds too rapidly for his audience, 
and without sufficient attention to the intermediate 
steps by which it is necessary for them to advance ; 
and they may derive much more instruction from 
an inferior man whose mental process on the sub- 
ject approaches more nearly to that which in the 
first instance must be theirs."* Habits of an 
opposite character, namely, of inattention, are 
fatal to intellectual advancement. A mind of this 
description is worse trained than that of the sav- 
age, on whose accurate observation and powers of 
memory, the hves of travelers so often depend. 
I have myself been guided, more than once, 
through the intricacies of a South American forest, 
by a male or female Indian, under circumstances 
which obliged me to stake my safety altogether 
upon their habits of minute attention. 

The influence of association, both on the mem- 
ory and on the general character, should also be 
borne in mind. Dr. Abercrombie refers our asso- 
ciations to three classes : — 1. Natural or philoso- 
phical association. 2. Local or incidental associ- 
ation. 3. Arbitrary or fictitious association. " The 
principle on which they all depend," he says, '' is 
simply the circumstance of two or more facts, 
thoughts, or events, being contemplated together 

* Abercrombie on the Intellectual Powers. 



100 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

by the mind, though many of them have no rela- 
tion to each other except this conjunction." The 
associations referred to under the first head, arise 
out of ''the real relation of facts to each other, or 
to subjects of thought previously existing in the 
mind." Those of the second are '' formed accord- 
ing to no other relations than such as are entirely 
local or casual." The third are produced '' by a 
voluntary effort of the mind ; and the facts asso- 
ciated are not connected by any relation except 
what arises out of this effort." The following exam- 
ple of natural or philosophical association is given 
as having occurred to himself: — 

"In a party of gentlemen, the conversation turned 
on the warlike character of the Mahrattas, as compared 
with the natives of Lower India, and the explanation 
given of it by an author, who refers it to their use of 
animal food, from which the Hindoos are said to 
be prohibited by their religion. A doubt was started 
respecting the extent to which Hindoos are prohibited 
from the use of animal food ; some were of one opinion, 
and some of another, and the point was left undecided. 
Reading, soon after, in the Journal of Bishop Heber, I 
found it stated, that at one time during his journey, 
when a large supply of meat was brought to him, he 
ordered three lambs to be sent to his Hindoo attendants, 
and that the gift was received with e\eYy expression of 
gratitude. On another occasion, such a fact might have 
been passed by without producing any impression ; or 
it might have been slightly associated with the good 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 101 

bishop's attention to the comfort of all around him, but 
not remembered beyond the passing moment. In con- 
nection with the discussion now mentioned, it became a 
fact of great interest, and never to be forgotten ; and 
led to inquiry after more precise information on the sub- 
ject to which it related. 

" This trifling example may serve to illustrate the 
principle, that the remembrance of insulated facts does 
not depend merely upon the degree of attention directed 
to them, but also on the existence in the mind of sub- 
jects of thought with which the new fact may be asso- 
ciated. Other facts, as they occur, will afterwards be 
added, from time to time, giving rise to a progressive 
increase of knowledge, in a mind in which this mental 
process is regularly carried on. This habit of attention 
and association ought therefore to he carefully cultivated^ 
as it must have a great influence on our progress in 
knowledge, and likewise on the formation of intellectual 
character, provided the associations be made upon sound 
principles, or according to the true and important 
relations of things. It is also closely connected with 
that activity of mind, which is ever on the alert for 
knowledge, from every source that comes within its 
reach; and that habit of reflection, which always con- 
nects with such facts the conclusions to which they 
lead, and the views which they tend to illustrate. On 
this principle also, every new fact which is acquired, or 
every new subject of thought which is brought before 
the mind, is not only valuable in itself, but also becomes 
the basis or nucleus of further information. Minds 
which are thus furnished with the requisite foundation 
of knowledge, and act uniformly upon these principles 
9* 



102 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

of enlarging it, will find interesting matter to be asso- 
ciated and remembered, where others find only amuse- 
ment for a vacant hour, which passes away and is 
forgotten. There is also another respect in which the 
habit of correct and philosophical association assists the 
memory, and contributes to progress in knowledge ; 
for by means of it, when applied to a great mass of 
facts relating to the same subject, we arrive at certain 
general facts, which represent a numerous body of the 
individuals, and the remembrance of which is equivalent 
to the remembrance of the whole." 

The improvement of the judgment, or reason, 
''that power by which we distinguish truth from 
falsehood, and combine the means for the attain- 
ment of our ends," should also be a primary object 
of concern. It is impossible for me here, to enlarge 
on the nature of this faculty, or even to refer to 
the various circumstances under which it is liable 
to become perverted or depraved. It is only 
necessary to observe, that it is guided by the same 
laws, when engaged in the investigation of truth, 
as when employed in the regulation of conduct ; 
and consequently, is liable to be biased by per- - 
sonal feelings, and vitiated by immoral conduct. 
Young people should have their attention frequently 
directed to this truth ; and while warned against 
being misled by fallacies, either in fact, in induc- 
tion, or in argument, should especially be guarded 
against taking up opinions under the influence of 
interest or inclination, and yet giving themselves 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 103 

credit for unbiased inquiry. A few simple illus- 
trations, exhibiting in various lights this sad pro- 
pensity to self-deception, in relation to important 
truths, will satisfy an intelligent youth that he is as 
responsible for his belief as for his conduct ; since he 
is answerable, not only for the' faithful collection 
of facts and evidences, but for the temper of mind 
in which these evidences have been subsequently 
examined and weighed. 

An ENLARGED COURSE of instruction, that which 
has reference to the general improvement and cul- 
tivation of the mind, as well as to the acquisition 
of diversified knowledge, is hj far the best and 
safest that can be imparted to children. It is true, 
they will in this case learn much that will be of no 
use whatever to them, so far as their advancement 
in life is concerned ; much that will soon be for- 
gotten ; and much more that may never turn to 
account in assisting them to pursue any particular 
trade or business for the mere accumulation of 
property. But why should this result be a source 
of regret ? The chief end of knowledge is not to 
get on in the world ; it is bad morality to inculcate 
such a notion : the end is rather to enable its pos- 
sessor so to regulate his habits and business of life, 
that he may extract the greatest possible portion of 
comfort out of small means ; and, by the cultiva- 
tion of his intellectual faculties, be introduced to 
enjoyments of a higher and better order than those 



104 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

which lead in willing captivity the mass of the 
uneducated and the rude. 

What particular branch of knowledge will be 
most valuable in future life to any given child, it 
is scarcely ever possible to predict. Circum- 
stances, apparently the most trifling, often deter- 
mine the settled pursuits of a long -and active life. 
In the year 1828, a school was established, for 
three months only, among some of the Penobscot 
tribe of Indians, who resided on the Penobscot 
river. One of the pupils, Paul Joseph Osson, dis- 
tinguished himself by unusual intelligence and 
proficiency. After leaving the school, he returned 
for a year or two to his Indian habits and man- 
ners ; but at the end of this time, being on a visit 
to Bangor, he happened to fix his eye upon some 
engravings in the shops, which made a very strong 
impression upon his mind. He was then taken to 
the room of a painter, and shown a considerable 
collection of portraits. From that time painting 
seemed to take possession of his whole soul. He 
employed himself continually in sketching figures 
upon wood and bark, and commenced drawing 
and painting flowers, animals, miniature likenesses 
of his fellow Indians, and landscapes of consid- 
erable compass. He is' now under regular tuition, 
and is said to be making respectable progress. It 
is related, that a lady, who was some years since 
visiting Old Town, the Indian village, was so 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 105 

Struck with the fine figure and face of one of the 
Indian boys, that she sketched an outhne of him 
on the spot : this made a strong impression on the 
boy, and on the tribe generally ; and it is strongly 
suspected that Osson was the boy alluded to, and 
that this was the first spark of excitement that 
kindled his infant genius.^ 

In many cases it may be that you cannot do 
more than to impart to your pupils the elements 
of knowledge. How important then is it, that you 
let every branch receive attention only in projjortion to 
its prohable utility ; that you never indulge in y«z;or- 
ite pursuits^ to the exclusion or neglect of those 
which are more important to your scholars ; and 
that you conscientiously determine, that the inter- 
ests of the great majority shall never by you, (as 
they too frequently are by others,) be cruelly and 
wickedly sacrificed, to the vanity of displaying 
the attainments of a small and favored few. Each 
branch must receive attention according to its rela- 
tive importance, whatever maj^ happen to be your 
own peculiar predilections. Above all, let it be 
your grand object to teach every thing with eter- 
nity in view. That instruction is little worth, 
which does not embrace man's whole existence ; 
and which has not as distinct a reference to the 
world that is to come, as to that which now 

* American Annals. 



106 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

obtrudes its claims with such unwarrantable 
importunity. 

Here, however, let me warn you of the danger a 
teacher incurs by the too ready adoption of what 
he may consider new and improved methods of 
INSTRUCTION. Experiments are often valuable, 
but then they need to be made very cautiously ; 
a large number of facts and observations ought to 
be accumulated, before any practice involving 
material changes, is introduced into a school. On 
this subject I should recommend you to read the 
chapter on Scheming^ in Mr. Abbott's Teacher. 
He very justly remarks, that ''in almost all the 
cases where the wonderful effects of supposed 
improvements are hastily proclaimed, the secret of 
the success is, not that the teacher has discovered 
a better method than the ordinary one, but that he 
has discovered a, newer one. The experiment will 
succeed in producing more successful results, just 
as long as the novelt}^ of it continues to excite 
unusual interest and attention in the class, or the 
thought that it is a plan of the teacher's own 
invention, leads him to take a peculiar interest 
in it. And this may be a month, or perhaps a 
quarter, and precisely the same effects would have 
been produced if the whole process had been 
reversed." 

The men who have really effected improve- 
ments in education, and left their mark on the 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 107 

rising generation, are veiy few. The three who 
of late years have attracted the greatest share of 
attention, are Pestalozzi, Fellenberg, and Jacotot. 
I cannot do more than briefly to allude to these cel- 
ebrated names ; I must refer you to other sources, 
for extended information respecting their history 
and plans. 

Henry Pestalozzi was born at Zurich, on the 
12th of January, 1745. He was originally intended 
for the ministry; but after pursuing the usual 
course of studies, he resigned that profession, and 
turned his attention to the correction of what he 
conceived prevailing errors in the education of the 
young. His great object appears to have been, at 
once to improve the intellect and amend the heart, 
by imparting a knowledge of things^ rather than 
of words, and by exciting and developing benevo- 
lent affections. The great instrument he employed 
was love^ and he appears to have possessed an 
amazing talent for so wielding that power, as to 
secure the most unbounded influence over the 
young. His long life was singularly chequered, 
and its end melancholy. He died in 1S27, at the 
age of eighty years, overwhelmed with the disap- 
pointments and mortifications which he had in a 
great measure brought upon himself by a too cred- 
ulous reception of the extravagant flatteries of his 
disciples. 

Emmanuel Fellenberg, who is a man of rank 
and fortune, is still living, and his institution at 



108 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Hofwyl, about six miles from Berne, is an object 
of great interest to the philanthropist. The colony 
of Mey Kirk, at the distance of five or six miles, 
is a branch of this institution. It consists of eight 
or ten poor boys, who are placed under the direc- 
tion of a teacher, on a spot of uncultivated ground, 
from which they are expected to obtain the means 
of subsistence. Hofwyl is in every respect a 
place of education, of which the instruction imparted 
is only one means, and therefore principles, rather 
than methods, are to be gathered from its observa- 
tion. The founder of Hofwyl proposes nothing 
less than "to develop all the faculties of our 
nature, physical, intellectual, and moral, to endea- 
vor to train and unite them into one harmonious 
system, which shall form the most perfect charac- 
ter of which the individual is susceptible, and 
thus prepare him for every period and every 
sphere of action to which he may be called.'' 
The leading principles of the institution are fully 
explained and illustrated in the delightful Sketches, 
to which I have already several times referred ; 
and so far as they can be made to apply to com- 
mon schools, I have endeavored to embody them 
in these letters. 

M. Jacotot, who is, or was, a professor of the 
French language at the University of Louvain, 
styles his system, "Universal Instruction and 
Intellectual Emancipation." A compendious ex- 
position of the principles and practice of this 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 109 

teacher has recently been published, from which 
it appears that the peculiarity of Jacotot's system, 
consists in little more than the extensive, if not 
universal application of an old precept, ''Learn 
sometldng thoroughly ^ and refer every thing else to it^ 
His motto is, " Tout est en tout," which has been 
thus paraphrased : '' Every thing is to be learnt 
thoroughly, and all possible use made of facts 
already known, in order that they may be used 
as paths to lead the learner in regions unknown 
and still to be explored." This principle is cer- 
tainly good, whatever may be the character of 
Jacotot's appUcation of it. The probabiUty is, 
that he, like many other persons who attach them- 
selves exclusively to one plan, knows his idea to 
be a good one, and so rides it to death. 

Improvements in education, however, like 
improvements in every thing else, bring with them 
corresponding dangers ; these sometimes arise (as 
in Jacotot's case) from pushing new plans and 
principles too far, and sometimes from an instructor 
working the additional power they give, with too 
high a pressure, upon minds predisposed to extra- 
ordinary intellectual activity. 

Two very different classes of minds are exposed 
in opposite directions to danger, from the singular 
facilities which are now afforded for the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge ; I mean the indolent and the 
precocious. A mind that waits to be acted upon, 
instead of exerting its own native faculties, is not 
10 



110 SCHOOL 'rEACHEii's MANUAL. 

an improving mind. The aim of a good teacher 
is not so much to infuse knowledge, as to develop 
power — to encourage and to invigorate effort ; he 
well knows^ that the moment any mind begins to 
depend upon the facilities afforded it, rather than 
upon itself, its efforts are impaired and its growth 
checked. The easiest way of learning a thing is 
not always the best. If all the truths of any 
science could be transferred in a moment to a 
learner's mind, without any exertion of his. own, 
it would do him very little good ; he would lose all 
the benefit both of thinking and reasoning. It is 
far better that he should find the road somewhat 
rough, and be his own pioneer in clearing and 
leveling it. 

But if it be (as it certainly is) an evil, to make 
the acquisition of knowledge so easy, that the 
mind becomes almost passive in its reception, and 
indolently ceases to make those efforts by which 
alone it can acquire strength and vigor, let it 
never be forgotten, that a far greater and more 
tremendous amount of mischief is accomplished, 
when, by undue excitement, an excessive intellect- 
ual development takes place, and the body, enfee- 
bled by the dangerous activity of the brain, 
becomes the sport of a morbid irritability, or 
sinks into premature decay. Now, I think there 
are few good schools, where there is not some 
danger of one or more minds being injured in this 
way. The vanity of the parent, the ambition of 



SCHOOL teacher's maxual. Ill 

the child, the pleasure which the teacher experi- 
ences, when he succeeds in exciting and develop- 
ing one or more faculties to an extraordinary 
degree, all combine to promote that excessive 
intellectual activity, which is always perilous, and 
often fatal. I speak not now of the moral effects 
of this unnatural excitement, how it enfeebles the 
will, how it excites the passions, and, by the 
increased susceptibility which it occasions, how 
it leads directly to excessive sensuaht^f.* I say, 
I speak not now of these, because I am looking 
simpty at its physical effects ; and viewing the 
matter in this light alone, I am borne out by the 
united testimonj" of medical waiters, in the asser- 
tion, that undue, and especially premature intel- 
lectual excitement, is the frequent, if not certain 
forerunner of impaired health, and of an early 
grave. 

Take care, then, of precocious children ; have 
no part in the process which is handing them over 

* At Hofwyl, more than one instance has occurred, in which it 
was necessary to diminish the amount of the pupil's intellectual 
efforts, in consequence of the alarming tendency to sensuality 
which it produced. The same general truth is illustrated, by the 
comparison of nations and communities in different stages of civili- 
zation. While a certain degree of culture will diminish the sensual- 
ity of a savage tribe, or of a new colony, it rolls back in overwhelm- 
ing waves upon those nations who have attained the height of 
cultivation and refinement, and whose intellectual faculties have 
been cultivated beyond the due proportion of their moral faculties. 

WQodbridge. 



112 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

to disease and death. *' The early history of the 
most distinguished men will, I believe, lead us to 
the conclusion, that early mental culture is not 
necessary, in order to produce the highest powers 
of mind. There is scarcely an instance of a 
great man, one who has accomplished great results, 
and has obtained the gratitude of mankind, who 
in early life received an education in reference to 
the wonderful labors which he afterwards per- 
formed. Those men who have stamped their own 
characters upon the age in which they lived, or 
who, as Cousin says, have been the * true repre- 
sentatives of the spirit and ideas of their time, 
have received no better education when young, 
than their associates, who were never known 
beyond their own neighborhood.' "* Dr. Spur- 
zheim says, '' No school education, strictly speak- 
ing, ought to begin before seven years of age." 
But this opinion must be taken with limitations. 
Perhaps it would be better to say, that no intel- 
lectual effort ought to be required before that period. 
An infant school should be the happy asylum of 
babes, rescued by the hand of benevolence from 
penury, negligence, and vice : when such an insti- 
tution becomes an *' intellectual Jiot-liouse^'^ it should 
be put down as a nuisance of the very worst 
description. 

* Brigham on the Influence or Mental Cultivation upon Health. 



'C TVTATVTTTAT 11 Q 



SCHOOL TEACHER S MANUAL. 11 

Do not then, be found, among those who fool- 
ishly complain that their children are childish^ — 
they ought to be so. ^he slower good fruit ripens, 
the better and the more valuable does it eventu- 
ally become. 

The bearing which some of the foregoing obser- 
vations have on religious instruction, will not 
escape the notice of the judicious parent or Sun- 
day School teacher. On this aspect of the subject, 
(precocity in religious knowledge,) I could say 
much, but I forbear; the ground is tender, and it 
is difficult to avoid misapprehension. It w^ill be 
safer for me to express my sentiments m the lan- 
guage of another, than to clothe them in my own. 
I adopt, therefore, the words of a correspondent 
of the Christian Observer, and add, "Mental 
precocity is not a healthy attribute, even when it 
assumes the character of religion. The religion 
of Httle children ought eminently to be an affec- 
tion of the heart, grounded indeed upon scriptural 
truth, the elements of which are intelligible to a 
little child, but not ramified into all the doctrinal 
discussions and mental developments w^hich w^ 
sometimes survey with wonder. Theology, as a 
science, may be made as great a stimulant to the 
infant mind as baby novel reading ; and the effect 
will too likely be, that the subsequent relaxation 
will be in proportion to the undue tension. Eve- 
lyn's child [whose remarkable history had formed 
the subject of a previous paper,] was not alto- 
10* 



114 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

gether simple ; there was something of the artifi- 
cial, that which was not natural in his years, 
mixed with his lovely character ; and so far as 
this is indicated, it weakens our sympathy. When 
he asks, * if he might pray with his hands unjoined^'^ 
he is altogether the child. His piety, his rever- 
ence for God, his tenderness of conscience, his 
willingness to bear inconvenience or pain, where 
duty requires it, are thus incidentally evinced ; 
while his scruple is so full of sincerity, that we 
sympathise, while we smile at his simplicity. 
But when he deals in abstract truths, and lays 
down theological propositions, such as that ' all 
God's children must suffer affliction ;' and when 
he declaims against the vanities of the world, 
before he had seen any ; he is no longer a child of 
five years old speaking from his own simple feel- 
ings ; he is either repeating by rote, or he has 
gained an early maturity of thought and an 
abstraction which are not natural, and are not of 
necessity religious. In giving up his own little 
world to God; in bearing with meekness the 
afflicting hand of his heavenly Father ; in expres- 
sing his reverence, by wishing to assume the 
accustomed attitude of infantile devotion; and 
above all, in his simple and affecting prayer, — 
' Sweet Jesus, save me — deliver me — pardon my 
sins — ^let thine angels receive me ;' he evidences 
an early growth of the spiritual affections : but in 
abstracting all this into theological propositions, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 115 

he merely shows the prematurity of the mental 
powers, or more probably, what he had heard and 
remembered. ' My son, give me thy heart,' as 
distinct from the mere exercise of the understand- 
ing, is the command of our heavenly Father ; and 
in the case of little children, and often of older 
converts, the heart may be far in advance of the 
intellect.'^ 



LETTER v.— TO THE SAME 



KEWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 

"Experience," says Fellenberg, "has taught 
me, that indolence in young persons is so directly 
opposite to their natural disposition to activity, 
that, unless it is the consequence of bad educa- 
tion, it is almost invariably connected with some 
constitutional defect."* And yet, as every one 
knows, the professed object of more than one 
half the punishment inflicted in schools is to 
compel application ; while we are told on all 
hands, that without the constant stimulus of re- 
ward, it is impossible to secure any long-contin- 
ued effort to excel. 

If, however, Fellenberg is right, in supposing 
that stimulant is only needed in morbid cases, and 
I see no reason to distrust his authority, how 
important is it, that the greatest care should be 
exercised in correcting indolence or inattention, 

^ Sketclies of Hofw} 1. Letter xiii. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANtJAL. 117 

lest in attempting to remove the immediate evil, 
we should induce others of greater magnitude, 
and inflict permanent injury on the character. 
It is always dangerous to punish children for idle- 
ness ; the pain inflicted, instead of being regarded 
as an inconvenience resulting from a fault, is 
almost sure to be associated in the child's mind 
with the industry and learning which it is intended 
to promote. It is obvious that no association can 
be more mischievous.* 

Rewards, if judiciously bestowed, may, on the 
contrary, be productive of much good. In private 
families, and in very small schools, the influence 
which is founded on afiection for the teacher, is 
doubtless better adapted than any other to stimu- 
late attention and to awaken effort. His smile,when 

* ** Punishment ought to be used to deter a child from doing evil, 
but It ought never to be used to induce it to do good. For instance, 
you see a child strike another, — punish the offender, and while he is 
Buffering, he ascribes the pain to the blow which he had inflicted on 
his companion. You thus establish in his mind the association of 
necessary contiguity between the blow and the punishment; and 
this association will deter him from a repetition of the offence. But 
suppose it should be your desire that your child should do what is 
good, — suppose you wish that he should read a chapter in the 
Bible, and he refuse, — you punish him, — you then associate the 
punishment with the Bible, and this association is attended with 
injurious results. In a few morhid cases, where the child cannot be 
aroused to intellectual activity, it may be necessary to inflict pun- 
ishment for idleness ; but such cases are rare, and when they do 
occur, it will be found that neglect in early education is closely con- 
nected with their existence. "—/)r. Bryce of Belfast. 



lis SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 

thus valued, is by far the best reward. But, as I 
have said elsewhere, it is a fatal error to lay down 
plans for a school of many children, which are in 
fact only adapted to a very limited number of 
pupils, living beneath the roof of his instructor, 
and altogether under his control. I again repeat, 
it is impossible for you to act the parent to a large 
number of children, whom you see only for a few 
hours of the day, or to employ, in these circum- 
stances, to any great extent, that kind of power 
which springs only from constant and familiar 
intercourse. Hence arises the necessity, in large 
schools at least, for that kind of stimulant, which 
although in some respects objectionable, is sup- 
plied by emulation and by reward. 

I know it is a question with many, whether 
emulation ought, under any circumstances, to be 
used as a motive to induce the 5^oung to apply 
themselves to the acquisition of knowledge. Essays 
and papers innumerable have been written, to 
show, that this principle is ranked by the apostle 
Paul with the "works of the flesh," and should 
therefore find no place in schools where the spirit 
of Christianity is intended to be inculcated. 
These writers associate with the term, pride and 
vanity, hatred and envy, ambition and selfishness. 
Others understanding by emulation^ simply the 
desire of sitrpassing^ and considering that in this 
primary sense it has no moral character whatever, 
but is good or bad, according to the objects and 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 119 

motives with which it is associated, maintain that 
emulation is one of the most important springs of 
action, and ought on no account to be dispensed 
with. It is plain, that the whole controversy, so 
far as Scripture is concerned, turns on the mean- 
ing attached to the word.* I confess to a decided 
leaning towards the opinions of those who take 
the more favorable view. Bad as our nature is, 
I cannot but think that there is such a thing as a 
generous rivalry. I know that it is no uncommon 
occurrence for well-matched competitors to be the 
dearest of friends ; and though envy may some- 
times be stirred up for a moment, in consequence 



* The word ^ajAor signifies any fervid affection of the mind. 
Such is the generic idea, and when specifically applied, it may 
mesm Siuy earnestness or engagedness in 3Lny parsu'it. In the New 
Testament it is generally applied to designate anger , warmth of feel- 
ing, in the way of indignation ; e. g. in Acts v. 17 ; xiii. 45 ; Rom. 
xiii. 13; 1 Cor. iii. 3. But sometimes it is employed in a good 
sense ; e.g. John ii. 17, " the zeal" (^jjAef) ** ^^ thine house,"— 
i. e. zeal for the honor of thine house. And in a sense like this last 
named, we generally employ it, in our own language. 

In Gal.v. 20, it plainly designates a bad passion, which is reckoned 
among " the works of the flesh." But as it may also imply simple 
earnestness, or engagedness, warmth of feeling in a good cause, (as in 
John ii. 17,) nothing can be drawn from the use of this word which 
will cast light on the subject of emulation. In the like manner is the 
verb Tretpot^fjXicff employed. It is used as meaning to excite to emu- 
lation, in a good sense, in Rom. xi. 11—14, and perhaps in Rom. x. 
19. It is employed in a bad sense in 1 Cor. x. 22. The word itself; 
therefore, can determine nothing. It is in its own proper nature, 
merely ^ewenc, meaning to excite, to stir up, go as to do either good 
or evil.— Fro/. Stuart. 



120 SCHOOL teache;r's manual. 

of discomfiture, I cannot but think, that if the 
parties '' strive lawfully," resentment, if at all 
excited in the vanquished, will be short-lived. 
That competition has an important use, in teach- 
ing children their relative powers, cannot, I think, 
be disputed. This species of self-knowledge, so 
valuable in future life, and which no books can 
teach, can be gathered only in the field of contest. 
That struggles of this character are necessarily 
connected with a selfish desire of personal dis- 
tinction ; with comparisons flattering to self, and 
injurious to others ; — ^with jealousy, envy, and ill- 
will ; — I can by no means admit. At the same 
time, it is quite plain that great care should be 
taken not to push rivalry too far ; that the desire 
of superiority should always be made subordinate 
to the cultivation of kind and generous feelings ; 
and that the victor and the vanquished should 
both be made sensible, not only that distinctions 
of every kind are relative, but that intellectual 
superiority is only to be desired, in so far as it is 
associated with moral excellence. 

In the bestowment of a reward, the great 
point to be kept in mind, is, the production of right 
impressions on the mind of the child, as to the 
intent and object of the gift. It should be dis- 
tinctly understood, that it does not in any sense 
partake of the character of a payment. The gospel 
teaches all of us, that nothing we can do merits 
reward ; we must take care, by our practice as 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 121 

well as by our instructions, to inculcate the same 
truth. He who is accustomed to do right, in order 
that he may obtain gifts here or hereafter, is at best 
a mercenary ; he who does so in order that he 
may obtain the praises of men, or secure the 
advancement of his own interests, is but the slave 
of vanity or selfishness ; while he, who pursues the 
same course, looking only for his reward in that 
self-approbation and quiet complacency which are 
the result of conscious rectitude and supposed 
superiority, is the victim of a vice more terrible 
and destructive, when viewed in ^'the light of 
God's countenance," and in relation to man's 
highest and best interests^ than it is possible for any 
human power rightly to estimate. The deity to 
whom this man offers sacrifice, — ^before whose 
altar his incense perpetually arises, and in whose 
smile he finds his continual happiness, — is none 
other than — himselfi Finding his pleasures only 
in his own thoughts, he is obliged '' to conceive 
himself what he is not, for who is pleased with 
what he is?" He is an idolater, whose guilt is 
aggravated by the absence even of a pretext, that 
his devotions are intended to terminate somewhere 
beyond the immediate object of his adorations. 
Dust and pollution is the sole and ultimate divinity 
of a self-complacent man ; he .^annot enter into 
the presence even of his Maker, without carrying 

11 



123 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

along with him thoughts and feelings appropriate 
only to a self-existent and independent being. 

I press these remarks on your attention, because 
I know that many educators imagine, that if they 
can repress the outbreakings of a spirit of rivalry 
and ambition, all is well ; whereas it is quite pos- 
sible, by the injudicious management of these 
outward manifestations of depravity, only to throw 
the disease within, and to aggravate far deadlier 
evils which may be raging there. 

A reward ought to be regarded only as a pleas- 
ant memorial of a good deed ; its legitimate 
object is, to keep in memor}^ the approbation 
which a superior mind has accorded to certain 
conduct; and its chief value arises from the asso- 
ciation which it creates, between that which is 
pleasant, and that which is good. Hence its 
pecuniary value is of comparatively little moment. 
" If rewards are given at all," says Mr. Hall of 
Andover, (to whose valuable lectures I have else- 
where referred,) ^'let them be rewards of merits* 
and not rewards of intellectual capacity. The 
dull of apprehension are not to be punished for 
being so, neither do the more gifted merit praise 
for what they have received from the hand of God. 

* By rewards of imrity I here undersland Mr. Hall to mean, 
rewards of habitual industry, of regular exertion, of general good 
conduct in relation to the studies of the school; and not moral con- 
duct of any kind. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 123 

And on the whole, I am incHned to believe that 
the safest way is to dispense with rewards alto- 
gether, w^hen they cannot be equally offered to 
all." But why not be offered to all f Only make 
their value to consist in the associations gathered 
around them, rather than in their pecuniary cost, 
and there will be no difficulty in making them suffi- 
ciently numerous to excite the desire and to gratify 
the expectation of the largest number. In this 
case, too, they may be given at comparatively short 
intervals, the importance of which will be well 
understood by those who know enough of human 
nature to estimate the length of a year in the 
apprehension of a child. If, in addition, care be 
taken to avoid the production of too high a degree 
of excitement, and too exclus-ive a desire for dis- 
tinction ; if children are taught, that goodness in 
itself is from its very nature, at all times and 
without any exception, beneficial, and vice as 
invariably injurious, I do not think that either the 
permission of emulation, or the bestowment of 
rewards, will render a.nj child less susceptible 
to better influences, less alive to appeals simply 
made to the conscience and the affections, or less 
disposed to cultivate any branch of moral excel- 
lence. 

Rewards, how well and wisely soever they 
may be bestowed, will not, however, prevent 
transgression. ** Offences will come ;" and pun- 



124 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

ishment, in one form or other, must be inflicted. 
And here, the first and great object to be secured, 
is the retrospective association of the pain inflicted with 
the previous fault. All punishment should be of 
this retrospective character ; it should never be 
inflicted to enforce the repetition of a good action, 
but always to prevent the repetition of a bad one ; 
and the association of pain with that which is 
wrong, and of pleasure with that which is right, 
should always be kept in mind as its great object 
and end. 

2. It should he serious. Ineffectual punishment 
does positive harm. No chastisement is benefi- 
cial which does not humble the delinquent ; cause 
him to fear ''the rod;" and thus tend to prevent 
the repetition of the fault. 

3. It should he immixed with personal feeling. 
*' The child should never imagine that his educa- 
tor is influenced in his discipline by the same 
passions he himself feels."^ Hence, a teacher 
should never punish a child for personal disre- 
spect ; he cannot do so without making the child 
sensible of its own importance, or without appear- 
ing to be actuated bj^ a spirit of vengeance. The 
petulance and insult of one so inferior should 
always be treated with pity rather than with 
anger. *' The insolence which has its origin in 

^ Fellenberg, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 125 

vanity or pride, is not likely to be reformed by 
punishing the numerous petty offences to which it 
will give rise. Our attention and efforts must be 
directed to the false state of feeling w^hich gives 
birth to them, if w^e w^ould be successful in con- 
vincing the offender of his, fault, and in leading to 
its correction."* 

4. The punishment should he proportioiied to the 
guilt involved in the offence^ and not to the amount of 
inconvenience occasioned by it. If you allow your- 
self to punish children merely because they have 
occasioned you some loss or inconvenience, you 
will often treat them with gross injustice, and will 
as certainly lose all hold of their affections. 

*' Little Charlotte was going out into her father's 
orchard : it was full of violets. ' Oh,' cries Charlotte, 
full of joy, ' what beautiful little flowers ! I will gather 
my apron full, and make a nosegay for mother.' She 
immediately knelt down, and with greaf industry gath- 
ered her apron full ; then she seated herself under an 
apple-tree, and made a handsome nosegay. ' Here it 
is,' said she ; ' now I will run and convey it to my dear 
mother. How she will be delighted to kiss me !' To 
increase the pleasure of her mother, she crept slily into 
the kitchen, took a china plate, put the nosegay on it, 
and went on a full leap down the stairs, to find her 
mother. But Charlotte stumbled, fell, and broke the 
china plate into a hundred pieces, and scattered her 

* Fellenberg. 
11* 



126 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

nosegay all around. Her mother, who was in the room 
near by, heard the noise, and immediately sprang to 
the door. When she saw the broken plate, she ran 
back, seized a rod, and without inquiring a word about 
the manner in which the plate was broken, came to the 
child. Terrified, both by the fall and on account of the 
broken plate, and half dead with the fear of the rod, 
little Charlotte could only ejaculate^ 'Dear mother! 
dear mother !' But this was of no service to her. 'You 
naughty child !' said her mother, ' break a beautiful 
plate, will your and chastised her severely. This 
injustice alienated her affections, and she never again 
brought a nosegay to her mother."* 

5. Regard should he had to the physical .co7idition 
of the culprit. Fellenberg observes, '' The habit of 
wandering from one subject to another, which so 
often gives rise to useless remonstrances, and still 
more useless punishments, as well as impatience 
and irritability of temper, are frequently connected 
with debility or disorder of the nervous system, 
and should be treated accrdingly. The educator 
should especially avoid the use of all violent 
means, where debility of body, or an unsound state of 
health, gives rise to faults or habits ; and above 
all, where the pupil himself is sensible of his 
error, and struggles against it. In such cases the 
teacher should, on the contrary, take the place 



* Salzmann's Art of Misedu cation. How to make yourself odious 
to children. 



iscHooi. teacher's manual. 127 

of a friend, and proffer his aid, as to one in need 
of assistance, instead of assuming the attitude of 
a severe judge." 

6. Punishment is effectual in proportion to its cer- 
tainty, not to its SEVERITY. Severity may pro- 
duce fear ; but fear, while it is in many respects 
degrading and corrupting, never acts as a preven- 
tion to evil^ except where it is accompanied by a 
firm conviction that punishment will inevitably 
follow the commission of a fault ; and then it is 
the certainty, not the 5e^;m^2/ of chastisement, "^hich 
effects the end in view. 

" During the wars in Flanders, in the reign of Queen 
Anne, when the Duke of Marlborough and Prince 
Eugene commanded the allied army, a soldier in the 
division of the latter was condemned to be hanged for 
marauding. The man happened to be a favorite with 
his officers, who took great pains to save his life, 
and for this purpose interceded with the prince, who 
positively refused to grant their request. They then 
applied to the Duke of Marlborough, begging his grace 
to interfere; he accordingly went to Prince Eugene, 
who said, he ' never did, and never would, consent to 
the pardon of a marauder.' ' Why,' said the duke, ' at 
,this rate we shall hang half the army ; I pardon a great 
many.' 'That,' replied the prince, ' is the reason that 
so much mischief is done by your people, and that so 
many suffer for it : I never pardon any, and therefore 
there are very few to be punished in my department.' 
The duke still urged his request ; on which the prince 



128 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

said, * Let the matter be inquired into, and if your 
grace has not executed more than I have done, I will 
consent to the pardon of this fellow.' The proper 
inquiries were accordingly made, and the numbers 
turned out very highly in favor of Prince Eugene ; on 
which he said to the duke, ' There, my lord, you see the 
benefit of example. You pardon many; I never pardon 
one ; therefore /ez^? dare to offend, and of course but few 
suffer.' 

*' This is one among the many confirmations which 
might be adduced to the truth of Beccaria's remark, 
that a ' less punishment which is certain^ will do more 
good than a greater which is uncertain,'' " 

Whether corporeal punishments can, under 
all circumstances, be dispensed with, is a question 
I am not prepared to answer. That children may, 
in almost every instance, be governed without 
them, is I think indisputable ; but that there are 
no cases in which the infliction of bodily pain 
should be resorted to, is an assertion I am not 
prepared to make. Fellenberg concedes in theo- 
ry and practice, that corporal punishment is Qcca- 
sionally, though rarely necessary. He thinks that 
serious faults, which result from violent ijassions, 
should be repelled with corresponding force at the 
moment, in order that a deep impression of physi- 
cal pain may be associated with them, and serve 
as a check when excitement of this kind begins 
anew. He considers also, that it is sometimes 
necessary to give a physical check of this kind, as 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 129 

a counterpoise to strong propensities or long-established 
habits ; as a means of arousing the pupil from that 
drowsy irresolution which is frequently the great- 
est obstacle to reformation. At the same time, he 
strongly condemns those arbitrary and violent 
punishments which appear to have no other source 
than the will of the master, and too often seem 
dictated by his passions. These he considers the 
cause of serious injury to the character ^ although 
they may be effectual in repressing the exterior 
defects of the pupil. "They often afford him," he 
says, '' a species of consolation, in the idea that his 
sufferings are excessive, or at least that they are 
the result of passions Uke his own. They thus 
arouse his courage and sense of justice, in opposi- 
tion to his educators. They bring his better prin- 
ciples into conflict with an authority which he is 
bound to respect, and thus utterly derange his 
views and feelings as to right and wrong. They 
often excite passions incomparably ^^orse than the 
fault they are designed to correct, and strengthen 
them by calling them frequently into exercise. 
When they exert an influence, they only accustom 
the pupil to act from the lowest motives, the fear 
of his fellow men and of phj^sical pain, and thus 
debase, instead of elevating his character."^ 

Professor Pillans goes farther. He has written 
ably and eloquently against any kind of corporal 

* Sketches of HofwyL 



130 SCHOOL teacher's manual, 

punishment whatever, and (which is far more) has 
proved that he could do without it in the High 
school of Edinburgh. Mr. Wood, on the other 
hand, leans to the occasional use of the cane ; re- 
garding corporal punishment as an evil, the use of 
which is only to be justified by necessity. He 
thinks that in large establishments like the Session- 
al school, that necessity is fairly made out ; and he 
is decidedly of opinion, that if entirely withdrawn, 
the directors of that institution would be compelled 
to have recourse to some substitute equally degra- 
ding and objectionable. He says, '' Often have 
we seen the bringing out of a child to receive a 
single stripe on the hand, restore that order and 
attention which the young teachers and their as- 
sistants had been unable previously to procure." 
And he asks, ''Is there really any other method 
by which the same important end could, with 
children of six or seven years, or even upwards, 
so expeditiously, so effectually, and at the same 
time less objectionably, be attained? I think 
there is not ; and therefore, much as I dislike the 
application oi force ^ under any circumstances, I 
could not, as the director of a public school, insist 
upon its entire abolition." 

Allow me now to offer two or three observations 
in relation to the general subject. 1 . Be slow to 
punish in any way. Never be in haste to believe 
that a pupil has done wrong. Make every inquiry 
for evidence, and always try to establish the inno- 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. ' 131 

cence of the accused party. If acquitted by the 
evidence adduced in his favor, he will love his 
teacher the better for having pursued this course ; 
and if proved guilty, he will be more likely to be 
affected by what you may say to him. 

2. In rehuking sin, avoid aliJce the langitage ajid 
tones of execration and of indifference. It is never 
well to make the worst of any occurrence. Calm 
and temperate remarks, offered in a serious spirit, 
are most likely to affect the heart and to awaken 
the conscience. 

3. Never have a punishing hour. Except in 
special cases, it is far better for discipline to be 
exercised without attracting pubhc notice. If 
every case of disobedience, or idleness, or disorder, 
is to be brought forward at a stated hour, and pun- 
ishment inflicted in the presence of all, what other 
result can be expected, than that unpleasant asso- 
ciations will be formed, in connexion both with the 
school and the teacher, — and that, hardened by the 
spectacle, the scholars will care little about sharing 
in a species of disgrace, with which their minds 
are so constantly famiharized ? Sometimes, how- 
ever, marking out an offence by infhcting punish- 
ment on the offender before the w^hole school, may 
Tdc highly impressive. In a case of this kind, as a 
rare occurrence, it^is desirable briefly to address 
both the transgressor and his schoolfellows, setting 
forth the act of punishment before all as a. disagree- 
able necessity, arising out of the misconduct of the 



133 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

boy, — an evil inflicted much against the teacher's 
will. If this be the true state of the educator's 
feelings, the children will not fail to perceive it, 
and will be affected accordingly. 
' 4. Never delegate punishment^ nor ever inflict it as 
the delegate of others. It is an every day occurrence 
in many schools, for parents to come to the teacher, 
with earnest requests that he will severely punish 
their boy for misconduct at home, — and, strange 
to say, there are some teachers who are willing to 
be made in this way the object of the child's aver- 
sion and hate. Others again, with equal folly, are 
accustomed, in order to avoid the trouble and dis- 
agreeableness of correction, to request the parent 
to inflict at home, punishment for offences com- 
mitted at school. The evils which invariably 
arise out of such monstrous improprieties are so 
obvious, that after what I have already said on 
the subject, it is, I trust, scarcely necessary to 
guard you against a practice so absurd and mis- 
chievous. 

The following general principles, translated 
from the German of Denzel, one of the most able 
living writers on this subject, will suitably con- 
clude the few hints I have now offered for your 
consideration. 

*'In the application of rewards and punish- 
ments," he observes, " the educator will do well to 
observe the following suggestions : 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 133 

*' I. Since that which is good and right ought to be 
done because it is good and right, without reference to 
reward or punishment, it follows that neither rewards 
nor punishments are ever to be employed, so long as 
other means are sufficient to enable the educator to keep 
his pupils in the way of-their duty. 

" II. In his whole course of education and instruction, 
the teacher should exhibit such inducements to obedi- 
ence, activity, exercise of talent, and love of order, as 
will in a great measure remove the occasion of transgress^ 
ing his commands^ and of the consequent punishment; 
and let obedience and learning carry with them their 
own reward. 

"III. It is only merit, diligence, acquisition by close 
application, and not talents and particular gifts of na- 
ture, that can justify any claims to reward. In no case 
ought the effects of incapacity or of innocent weakness 
to be punished. It is merely neglect, levity, and indo- 
lence, with the effects of a perverted will, that are pun- 
ishable. 

" IV. Rewards should only please, excite, and ani- 
mate ; without producing by any means, vanity, pride, 
and haughtiness. In the same manner, punishments 
ought to be such as to awaken a desire for that which is 
good ; they should warn and restrain from evil, and not 
produce in the child any distrust in his own powers. 
Rewards should never appear to be distinctions ; and 
punishments^ should be considered as evils inflicted out 
of necessity, and not of choice. 

" V. Rewards and punishments should be only spar- 
ingly applied, or they lose their beneficial influence. 
By their frequent use, the mind either becomes insen- 

12 



134 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

sible to their influence, or it obtains an erroneous im- 
pression, that mankind in all their actions are to be 
influenced only by that which is to them personally 
profitable or injurious. 

"VI. The more sensual the man is, and the more he 
lives merely for the present and for himself, and the 
younger he is, so much the sooner after the act must re- 
ward or punishment be applied. On the contrary, the 
older the child, the more he must be accustomed to ex- 
pect his reward or punishment at a distance, and the 
more must he be taught to hope or fear the remote con- 
sequences. 

*' VII. Rewards and punishments should never be 
applied by the educator till after he has fully weighed 
the circumstances in a dispassionate state of mind, with 
perfect impartiality. Every indiscretion, every mistake 
in the circumstances, every perceptible favouritism for 
an individual, effaces from the heart of the child what- 
ever is beneficial in reward or punishment ; that is, the 
sense of its necessity and propriety. The passionate 
man always commits errors. He mistakes the good, or 
overvalues it in his reward. That which is wrong is 
equally misunderstood, and attributed to the worst mo- 
tives, and punished with excessive severity. Punishment 
should never be applied in anger, and still less with a 
sneer, or scorn, or an air of triumph ; but rather always 
with marks of compassion for the child. Children 
should feel that the educator is compelled to the measure, 
and that it is disagreeable to him. When he impru- 
dently punishes, he necessarily alienates the hearts of 
his pupils, and fosters a refractory, turbulent disposi- 
tion ; but when punishment is properly applied, it leaves 



SCHOOL teacher's maxual. 135 

a permanently good impression, and the educator is 
esteemed and beloved as a father. For a general rule, 
the approbation of the teacher is a sufficient reward for 
all moral conduct. In no case should it be encouraged 
by a determined precise premium. No rewards are 
proper in the religious part of education ; for they might 
lead to the opinion that mankind could merit the favour 
of their God by their good works," 



LETTER VI.— TO THE SAME. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 

It has been beautifully said, that '* truth, con- 
sidered in itself, and in the effects natural to it, 
may be conceived of as a gentle spring or water- 
source, warm from the genial earth, and breathing 
up into the snow-drift that is piled over and around 
its outlet. It turns the obstacle into its own form 
and character, and as it makes its way increases 
its stream ; and should it be arrested in its course 
by a chilling season, it suffers delay, not loss, and 
waits only for a change in the wind to awaken and 
again roll onwards."'* 

So would I describe the present relative posi- 
tion of knowledge and religion. The scattering 
abroad of knowledge, and the general diffusion of 
the elements of science among the people, may, 
for a time, like the snow-drift which covers the 
fountain, appear to impede, rather than advance 

^ S. T. Coleridge. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 137 

the triumphs of the gospel ; but it is in truth only 
destined to accelerate its progress. The quiet, 
but insinuating master influence beneath, is silently 
gathering strength from the apparent hindrance, 
and preparing to break forth afresh with the force 
and volume of a torrent. 

Many amiable and excellent persons are slow to 
perceive this ; they are hard to be persuaded, that 
whatever is gained for knowledge must eventually 
be gained for Christianity ; and they tremble, at 
the very moment when the dictates of faith and 
reason alike call upon them to rejoice. Hence it 
happens, that while many, influenced by selfish- 
ness and pride, openly mourn over ''the eman- 
cipation of the human reason from a legion of 
devils," because it involves " the loss of a herd of 
swine ;" others, from whom better things might 
have been expected, stand by unconcerned, as 
this great work of humanity and religion falters in 
its course, or at best, urges its way by slow and 
painful steps. I trust it is scarcely necessary to 
say to you. Sedulously avoid this mischievous error. 

Never give place for a moment to the idea, that 
intellectual advancement is in any degree unfavor- 
able to moral improvement, or imagine that you 
will be more likely to promote true Christianity by 
exclusive attention to religious instruction. While 
you are deeply anxious that all you teach should 
be based upon the gospel, and sanctified by the 
Holy Spirit, never forget that children have duties 
18* 



138 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

to perform in this world as well as the next, and 
that it is cruelty, as well as folly, to deprive them 
of any natural right, under the pretext of extraor- 
dinary care for their spiritual interests. Rightly 
, understood, the two invariably coincide : the en- 
largement of the intellect is favorable to the im- 
provement of the heart ;* " reason" is " assisted 
by faith," and ''taste" is "purified by devotion." 
Keeping this cautionary remark in view, I may 
now venture to say, " Gird up the loins of your 
mind," and bend your undivided energies to the 
accomplishment of the great ultimate object of all 
your labors — the production of good moral and 
religious influences. 

And here allow me to offer you one word of pre- 
liminary advice. It is this : — Take rational and 
scriptural views, of the nature of the Being on which 
your influence is to he exerted. If you set out with 
the idea, that the heart of a child is a fountain of 
love and purity, — that its affections, untainted by 
evil, will naturally gush forth towards the good 
and the beautiful, when presented to its notice, — 
that its mind is a white and pure tablet, on which 
you may inscribe what you will ; — I say, if, in- 
stead of listening to the voice of scripture and of 
reason, you take up with these miserable senti- 

* The committee of the general Assembly of the church of Scot- 
land, state in their report on schools in the Highlands, that those in 
which the greatest variety of secular instruction is imparled, are, most 
distinguished by a religious character. 



SCHOOL TEACHER^S MANUAL. 139^ 

mentalities, your disappointment is sure to be both 
bitter and complete. Rest assured, that '' folly is 
bound up in the heart," even ^'ofa child," and 
regulate your expectations accordingly. 

Against an opposite error, that of supposing (as 
some do) that since God alone can change the 
heart, the improvement of the natural dispositions 
is altogether out of our reach, I trust you need 
scarcely be warned. • This is a monstrous pre- 
sumption, and can never be too severely reproba- 
ted. All experience — the history of the church in 
all ages — goes to prove, that while at various peri- 
ods, the world has been startled and instructed by 
the sudden and permanent conversion of large 
numbers of the profligate and the profane, — -the 
*' salt of the earth," the benefactors of the world, 
whether considered individually or in the aggre- 
gate, have generally been gathered from the hab- 
itations of the amiable, the intelhgent, and the 
devout. 

In moral education,' a twofold work has to be 
accomplished: ''the faculty of reason must be 
taught how to judge rightly between truth and 
error, good and evil ;"^ and the hahit of acting 
rightly must be formed, in order that the imagina- 
tion, the passions, and the affections, may be ac- 
customed to bow to the decisions of reason, when 
thus enlightened and strengthened. The first of 

* Hooker. 



140 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

these, (the formation of right judgments,) has long 
been a primary object of our efforts ; the last, (the 
formation of habits and the regulation of emotions,) 
has not yet received that share of attention which 
its paramount importance demands. It may be 
worth inquiry, whether more cannot be done in 
this way than has hitherto been considered prac- 
ticable. 

To accomplish any good at all, however, re- 
member, the affections of your pupils must he secured. 
If they do not love you, they wdll repel all your 
attempts to do them good. There must be sym- 
pathy between you and them, or all your efforts to 
influence them will be vain. Your first step, 
therefore, must be, to secure a place in their most 
agreeable associations. When your presence and 
society is a source of joy, it may easily be made 
the occasion of benefit. I have already said so 
much on the art of obtaining influence, that I need 
scarcely add. It ivill not be gained by indulgence. 
Mr. Abbott has truly said, '''it is one of the mys- 
teries of human nature, that indulgence never 
awakens gratitude or love in the heart of a child." 
Firmness regulated by kindness, — a kindness not 
only felt, but expressed in acts of sympathy and 
love, — ^^will alone secure any efficient hold on the 
affections of the young. 

I would here, however, again request you to 
bear in mind, that the kind of influence which the 
teacher of an elementary school can exercise over 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 141 

his pupils, is in many respects very different 
from that which can be brought to bear by a 
wise parent or tutor. It must be, as I have 
before said, influence exerted for the most part, 
not on the individual, but on the mass, and conse- 
quently, to a great extent, through the agency of 
general arrangements, rather than of personal in- 
tercourse. 

But to proceed. In all attempts to exercise 
moral influence over the young, the faithful incAilca" 
cation of Divine Truth from the Bible is the first point 
to he regarded. To enlarge upon the excellency of 
scripture, or to show its adaptation to all the wants 
of humanity, is here, I trust, unnecessary. Were 
the book the production of man only, unassisted 
by inspiration, — did it carry with it no rebuke, — 
did it leave sin untouched, — would it but cease to 
be an accuser, or agree to descend from the judg- 
ment-seat, we cannot for a moment doubt that, 
containing, as Sir William Jones has well said it 
does, " more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, 
purer morality, more important history, and finer 
strains, both of poetry and eloquence, than could 
be collected within the same compass from all other 
books which were ever composed in any age or in 
any idiom," — it would at once push aside all com- 
petitors, and be extensively and anxiously incorpo- 
rated into the whole system of education, as the 
foundation and corner-stone of all improvement. 



142 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Why it does not occupy such a place we all know 
too well.* 

I should say then, first of all, if it be possible, 
let every child have^ every day^ some portion of Divine 
Truths however small, stored up in its understanding 
and memory. It is the reiteration, day after day, of 
truth upon the mind, that makes the impression. 
To be remembered, however, it must interest ; 
and to interest, it must be understood. To effect 
this purpose, the catechetical form of instruction, 
which, as Dr. Johnson well defines it, is simply 
" asking questions, and correcting the answers," 
will doubtless be found in general the most appro- 
priate. The practice of reading from a book a 
certain number of prescribed questions, and hear- 
ing the child repeat by rote the words which are 
set down for him as the answers, is, in my opinion, 

* Fellenberg's observations on this subject are striking ; and as 
coming from him, they may have weight in quarters where scarcely 
any other individual would be heard. He says, " We see in out 
days, that every thing which ^arewfs, which nature, which conscience^ 
and the observation of our own hearts can accomplish, for the moral 
development of children, is inadequate. Let this (the Old Testa- 
ment) b^ the first history presented to the child, and let him be deep- 
ly imbued with the spirit of the Bible." Of himself he says, " We 
establish our institutions upon the basis of genuine Christianity. We 
proceed, in the commencement of our labors, upon the essential 
principles and conditions of tha gospel. The best practical example 
for the educator is to be found in the Saviour of men ; and in the 
result we should aim at no other object, than the realization of that 
kingdom of God to which he has<iirected mankind." 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 143 

of little value. I may be wrong, — ^many wise and 
good men differ from me on this point ; but in my 
view, no catechetical instruction is worthy the 
name, in which the answer given by the child does 
not suggest the succeeding question. 

Illustrations of an interesting character from 
*' the world without," should at all times be anx- 
iously sought. Such a text, for instance, as Jer. 
viii. 7, might very properly introduce a brief ac- 
count of the habits and migration of birds. Where 
is the child who would not receive a deeper im- 
pression from the lesson it conveys, by associating 
with it his first acquaintance with the departure of 
the swallow on the approach of winter ? In like 
manner, Eccl. i. 7, would seem naturally to lead 
you to explain the evaporation which is constantly 
taking place from the surface of the deep ;— how it 
is, that notwithstanding pJl the waters of the Nile, 
the Po, the Rhone, the Ebro, the Danube, the 
Nieper, and the Don, pour themselves incessantly 
into the Mediterraneajn sea, it still does not increase 
in size. You will soon see how deep an interest 
will be excited, on finding the explanation of the 
\vhole matter in this single text : " Unto the place 
from whence the rivers come, thither thej^ return 
again." The formation of coralline rocks and 
islands, is another remarkable phenomenon, which 
may be made forcibly to illustrate Divine truth. 
The minuteness of the insect, and the gigantic 
character of the work it performs, strikingly teach 



144 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

how weak and humble is the instrumentaHty by 
which God often accomphshes his mightiest pur- 
poses. In this way the agreement which subsists 
between nature and revelation might be strongly 
impressed. 

2. Carefully ascertain^ at an early period^ that the 
elementary truths of the Christian faith are understood 
and firmly rooted in the mind. Allow me strongly 
to impress attention to this point, for it is very 
often grievously neglected. By the elementary 
truths of revelation, I mean such as relate to the 
being and attributes of God, the immortality of 
the soul, and a state of future retribution; and I 
venture to say, without fear of contradiction, that 
it is not an uncommon thing to find children pro- 
fessedly acquainted with the facts and doctrines of 
the Bible, long before they have any clear concep- 
tions on these, '' the first principles of the gospel of 
Christ." Can we wonder, that a structure so 
hastily reared, is in future life so easily undermined 
and destroyed ? I attribute a great deal of pre- 
vailing infidelity, (especially among those who 
have received what is called a religious education,) 
to this ill-judged practice of building up in the 
understanding a dogmatical system of theological 
truths, without first even attempting to lay a firm 
foundation in this broad ground-work of Divine 
revelation. 

It is by no means necessary to go through any 
process of reasoning, to convince a child of the 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 145 

being of a God. The conviction that every effect 
must have an adequate cause is intuitive. The 
child recognizes and acts upon convictions of this 
character every day. If it handles a curiously con- 
structed toy, it intuitively infers a skilful maker; 
and if it sees a house, it as certainly infers that the 
skill and labor of many have been engaged in its 
erection. The simplest step in reasoning imagin- 
able, in like manner, leads from the creature to the 
Creator. Power, wisdom, and goodness, are in- 
scribed upon every field and flower, and legible in 
every arrangement which has been made for the 
provision, whether of man or beast ; but thought-, 
lessness and inattention detect no beauty, and dis- 
cover no excellence. To remedy this, the mind 
should be accustomed, from a very early period, 
to mark the unerring skill and profound wisdom 
with which the most ordinary operations of the 
Divine hand are conducted ; to associate in all its 
investigations the books of nature and of revela- 
tion ; and invariably to connect the observation of 
the one, with the instructions and explanations of 
the other. 

Sometimes it may be well to select an extraordi- 
nary instance of fertility or of beauty, and to make 
this the ground- work of useful remark. The fact, 
for instance, that a single grain of wheat has been 
known to produce 7455 other grains ; or that one 
dwarf pea has proved the parent of above 500 
peas ; or that a single peach-tree has produced 

13 



146 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

1560 fine peaches ;* might be made, in the hands 
of a wise teacher, to illustrate in the most interest- 
ing manner the bounteousness with which God 
supplies us, not only with the necessaries, but with 
the luxuries of life. 

The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, may 
seem at first sight to be much more difficult to ex- 
plain to a child ; but Mr. Gallaudet, in his " Child's 
Book on the Soul," has shewn, that even this may 
very easily be brought within infantile comprehen- 
sion. He suggests, that a child should first be led 
to compare successively the properties of a pebble, 
a flower, a watch, an animal, and a human being. 
"In each object," he observes, ''the pupil discov- 
ers some qualities which belonged to the preceding, 
with some new ones ; and on arriving at the hu- 
man being, he perceives that it has life, movementSj 
powers, which neither the flower, nor the watch, 
nor the animal possesses ; that we have somethijig, 
of whose existence we are conscious, of whose 
power we have constant evidence, but of whose 
nature all the researches of metaphysics have in- 
formed us only of its negative properties." He 
may then be taught, that it is this something which 
mnstlivefor ever. One remark of Mr. Gallaudet's 
is too valuable to be omitted, it is this : ''If in- 
quiries are made, or difficulties started, let them be 
treated with the greatest attention. They who 

* Turner's Sacred History. — Notes. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 147 

would teach children ivell^ must first learn a great deal 
from them*'''* 

To impress the doctrine of future retribution, 
and to prevent in mature life that "making free 
with Divine goodness," which leads so many to 
contemplate God exclusively under one aspect, 
and hence to conclude that he is characterised by 
" a bare single disposition to produce happiness," 
what can be better than the striking illustrations of 
the government of God, especially by punish- 
ments, which are found in the second chapter of 
Bishop Butler's Analogy ? I mention this book 
because it is generally accessible, and, with some 
exceptions, as simple as it is profound. 

3. ^e unceasing in your endeavors to bring the word 
of God into contact ivith the conscience. Conscience 
is "the candle of the Lord, shining in the inner- 
most parts of the body." Press truth then into its 
presence, with hope and vigor. Appeal frequent- 
ly to this "light within," dim and flickering as it 
may be. You do much for your pupil, if you only 
keep alive the simple elementary idea, that there 
is One, whose sight he cannot escape, whose 
power he cannot resist, and that this wondrous 
Being, of whose greatness and majesty he has so 
many proofs, is ever appealing, by "a still small 
voice," to his convictions and affections, though he 
be but a little child. It is only by this constant 
reference to Him, who " seeth not as man seeth," 
that you can ever hope to direct attention to the 



148 SCHOOL teacher's manual, 

spirit and motive of conduct, or turn the. mind 
from* 'man," who "looketh on the outward ap- 
pearance," to the Lord, ''who looketh oh the 
heart." 

Ill all applications of scripture^ however, he careful 
to choose your opportunity wisely* There are periods 
when serious injury is done by urging the claims 
of reUgion. Never do so, for instance, when a 
child is under the influence of anger. To be 
scolded or lectured at such times from the Bible, 
can only produce disgust. The child associates 
the book with the idea of punishment, and proba- 
bly looks upon it only as an instrument of wrath, 
wielded by you for the purpose of maintaining 
authority. Any period of strong emotion, of what- 
ever kind, is indeed unsuitable. The heart must 
be tranquil, and at rest, or valuable impressions 
are not likely to be produced. 

In the inculcation of scripture doctrines ^ he regulated 
hy the age and capacity of those whom you have to in-, 
struct. In this respect let Christ himself be your 
example. There were many truths which he 
kept back, only because his disciples were " not 
able to bear them ;" and every judicious instructor 
must do the same. It is very painful to see, as we 
do sometimes, mere babes in years, as well as in 
knowledge, crammed with the " strong meat," in^ 
stead of being fed with the " milk" of the gospel. 
Such a practice is every way pernicious. It is 
going back, to say the least of it, to the old and 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 149 

mischievous practice of repeating by rote, and it 
may be doing serious mischief. Theological jpra- 
ting has a dreadful tendency to harden the heart, 
and to deaden the sensibilities of the soul. We 
can never guard too carefully against the danger 
of instructing the tongue to outrun the heart. This 
abuse of doctrinal truth, be it remembered how- 
ever, forms no argument at all against the judicious 
inculcation of ''the whole counsel of God." If this 
be neglected^ the morals even of the Bible will be 
found to have little power over the character in the 
hour of temptation. "Man wants power as much 
as direction ; his hopes and his fears are the sinews 
of his virtue ; and when even his mind is instruct- 
ed, he is motionless towards that which is right, 
until he feels the life oilove. " We love him be- 
cause he first loved us." Here is the spring of 
morality ; the heart of the whole system of chris- 
tian morals is the love of Christ. No education 
is rehgious, in any christian sense, without the 
knowledge of the gospel ; and the hope of its 
practical influence rests, therefore on the careful 
and full communication of its leading doctrines. 
To take the morals of the New Testament, and to 
discard its faith, is to sever the tree from the root 
while it is jet in bloom. The hues may be ad- 
mired, and the fragrance be for a time, as " afield 
which the Lord hath blessed ;" but '' thei?' blossom shall 
go up as dtist, because they have cast away the law of 

13* 



150 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy 
One of Israel.''''^ 

If on these principles scriptural instruction be 
faithfully imparted, the accomplishment of one 
great object in education, the formation of a cor- 
rect MORAL TASTE, may, I trust, reasonably be 
expected. The next step is to seek the formation 
of RIGHT HABITS, the " mastcrs of action," the 
'' links" which, following each other " in the chain 
of custom," so often bind and enslave the. soul. I 
shall mention a few of these, in the order in which 
they occur to my own mind, without giving any 
opinion as to their relative importance. 

1. Cleanliness. The importance of physical 
cleanliness, — its influence on the health and com- 
fort of a school, — its connexion with taste a^d 
order, — -and above all, its moral advantages, are 
so obvious, that it is unnecessary even to name 
them. No excuse should be taken for dirt; a 
rule which is of more importance, because, among 
children, cleanliness cannot always be maintained 
without unremitted and painful exertions. Let 
every child see, then, that you duly appreciate 
clean hands and a clean face ; and reward atten- 
tion to these points, by committing to such as are 
distinguished for this kind of excellence, some 
little charge, which will occasion their '^ light" to 

^ liichard Watson's Sermon on Religious Education. 



SCHOOL teacher's maxual. 151 

" shine" before their fellows, and thus contribute 
to form the same habits in those around them. 

The great object of the teacher must always be, 
to . unite pleasant associations with what is 7'ight, and 
painful associations with what is wrong. Habits are 
but repeated acts ; whatever, therefore, tends to 
induce the repetition of a good act, and to prevent 
the repetition of a bad one, should be secured on 
the side of virtue. In the first instance, author- 
ity must be put forth ; after this, example will 
probably suffice. But a time comes when author- 
ity must cease, and example be withdrawn. In 
the absence of sound christian principles, nothing 
then is so powerful as association. If, for any 
length of time, pleasure has been associated with 
the performance of duty, and pain with its neglect, 
there is every reason to hope that the bias of the 
will may generally be determined in favor of that 
which is right. 

2. Self-denial, as opposed to all greediness 
and gluttony, and to the indulgence of the lower 
appetites in general, is a duty you should invaria- 
bly and anxiously inculcate. The influence w^hich 
habits of this kind exercise over the future charac- 
ter and happiness of the man, is frequently over- 
powering. The French express in a precept of 
three words, " Vivre de peu,^^^ the great secret of 

*" To live upon little." 



162 scHooi. teacher's manual. 

independence. But this first of blessings can 
never be attained by one who is a slave of the 
lowest of all appetites, the love of eating and 
drinking. Now a child may soon be made sensi- 
ble of this. Warn him of the first steps in this 
career of degradation ; guard him against seeking 
enjoyment in any form of sensual indulgence 
whatever. ' Never give him any reward of this 
low character ; and seize every opportunity to ex- 
cite better feelings, by bringing under his notice, 
eminent instances of moral feeling triumphing 
over the strongest appetites. Sir Philip Sidney, 
at the battle of Zutphen, sending away untasted 
the cup of water ; and David pouring out before 
the Lord, the precious draught, for which his soul 
had just before so intensely longed, are two exam- 
ples which might in this way be turned to good 
account. 

The evils and sorrows which intemperance 
brings in its train, are so obviously connected 
with, and occasioned by sinful indulgence, that a 
better opportunity cannot probably be found, than 
that which a warning against this vice affords, to 
show how, in the providence of God, the pain 
connected with an evil action always arises out of 
itself. It is important that the young should be 
made to perceive, that the connexion which sub- 
sists between sin and pain, virtue and happiness, 
is not arbitrary, but necessary. The practice of 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 153 

using intoxicating liquors, as marks of courtesy 
and kindness, ought to be resolutely discountenan- 
ced. It leads directly to habits of inebriet}^, and 
by direct consequence, to the extinction ahke of 
intellect and piety. 

3. Gentleness. Although it is quite true, that 
a rough, and even a rude exterior, may, and fre- 
quently does, consist with much real kindness of 
heart ; and although it is equally certain, that pol- 
ished manners are too often only a cloak for the 
indulgence of the most unbounded selfishness ; it 
still holds good, that pohteness is the legitimate 
representative of benevolence, and rudeness the 
spontaneous fruit of selfish unconcern for the inter- 
ests and feelings of others. As such, therefore, 
without doubt, the one should be cherished, and 
the other shunned. 

With this general object in view, then. Repress 
in every instance the first indications of an unfeeling 
disposition, especially when manifested towards insects 
or dumh anhnals. 

Children, and all untutored persons, soon catch the 
spirit, and imitate the actions of those with whom 
they associate, and to whom they lookup as supe- 
riors ; hence, the importance of always acting on 
the principle, that it is better to endure pain than 
to inflict it ; ever remembering, that to cultivate and 
to exercise a spirit of kindness and of love, is the 
great duty impressed in every page of Sgripture, 



154 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

and continually enforced by the example of the 
Redeemer. The occasional introduction before 
the whole school, of an anecdote or story, descrip- 
tive of the affection and tenderness frequently 
exhibited by animals towards each other, and 
especially towards their young, might be produc- 
tive of the best effects. I append one as a speci- 
men, in the form of a note.* Take care, however, 
not to spoil such a story by comments and reflec- 
tions of your own. Children are in the practice 
of moralizing daily on the most common occur- 
rences of life, and are much more likely to do so 
on a narrative of this description, if left to them- 
selves. 

A great point is gained, when young people are 
made to feel, that no living thing is to the despised^ — 

* *'When the Carcasse frigate was locked in the northern ice, a 
she-bear, and her two cubs, nearly as large as herself, came toward 
them. The crew threw to them great lumps of sea-horse blubber. 
The old bear fetched them away singly, and divided them between 
her young ones, reserving but a small piece for herself The sail- 
ors shot the cubs, as she was conveying the last portion, and 
wounded her. She could just crawl with it to them, tore it in 
pieces, and laid it before them. When she saw they did not eat, 
she laid her paws, first on one, then on the other, and tried to raise 
them up, moaning pitifully all the while. She then moved from 
them, and looked back, and moaned, as if for them to follow her. 
Finding they did not, she returned, smelt them, and licked their 
wounds; again left them, and again returned; and with signs of 
inexpressible fondness, went round them, pawing and moaning. 
At length she raised her head towards the ship, and uttered a growl 
of despair; when a volley of musket-balls killed her/' 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 155 

that nothing is without its use, — nothing without 
its appropriate talent and excellence.* 

"'Tis nature's law, 

That none, the meanest of created things, 
Of forms created the most vile and brute, 
The dullest or most noxious, should exist 
Divorced from goocT,— a spirit and pulse of good^ 
A life and soul, to every mode of being 
Inseparably linked." 

Next to humanity to brutes, encourage a con- 
stant regard for the feehngs of play-mates ; and 
especially honor kindness done to the weaker and 
more defenceless. 

**Ob, there's a wicked little world in schdols, 
Where mischief's suffered, and oppression rules; 
Where mild quiescent children oft endure 
What a long placid life shall fail to care. 



Yon boy behold ! 



How hot the vengeance of a heart so cold ! 



* A reviewer of Captain Hall's Voyages, in an article published 
some years ago in the (Quarterly Review, observes, '' We all talk of 
the ass as the stupidest of the browsers of the field; yet if any one 
shuts up a donkey in the same enclosure with half a dozen horses 
of the finest blood, and the party escape, it is infallibly the poor 
donkey that has led the way. It is he alone that penetrates the 
secret of the bolt and latch. Often have we stood at the other side 
of a hedg3, contemplating a whole troop of brood mares and their 
offspring, patiently waiting while the donkey was snuffing over a 
piece of work, to which all but he felt themselves incompetent." 



156 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

See how he beats, whom he has just reviled, ' 

And made rebellious, that imploring child : 
How fierce his eye, how merciless his blows, 
And how his anger on his insult grows."** 

The only security against this evil, is the diffu- 
sion of such sentiments in favor of kindness 
and loVe as shall render this species of tyranny 
impossible. 

Benevolence may, however, and ought to 
be manifested, even by children, in other v^ays 
besides that of kindness to school-fellows. A 
teacher should take care, not only that his pupils 
sympathize with distress, but that the emotion is 
followed by efforts for the relief of the sufferer ; 
since, by the production of emotions without cor- 
responding conduct, the character is injured, and 
a cold and heartless sentimentality induced. 
Hence it is that fictitious tales of sorrow harden, 
instead of softening the heart ; the moral emotions 
are unnaturally disjoined from corresponding con- 
duct, and selfishness, instead of being repressed, 
is cherished. Children are seldom unwilling to 
aid in th^ relief of distress. One of our teachers 
told me, a short time ago, that it was no unusual 
thing for him, when any child was kept at home, 
(through the poverty of the parents,) for want of 
shoes, or other clothing, to mention the circum- 

^ Crabbe's Tales of the School. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 157 

Stance in the school, and he never did so, without 
eight, ten, or twelve shillings being contributed 
the next day. Another informed me, that m com- 
pliance with the proposal of the children^ the boys 
bring one penny each on the death of the father of 
any one in the school, which sum is presented to 
the widow. I could mention many such facts, 
if it were necessary to do so. These, however, 
will be sufficient to show, that it is quite practica- 
ble thus to form and to foster habits of active 
benevolence. 

The inculcation of respect for women, is 
another branch of civilization, to which, in the 
education of boys, great attention should be paid. 
Boys, of the lower classes of society especially, 
are very apt to treat their mothers and sisters with 
contempt, merely as females. That this feeling is 
often occasioned by injudicious, and generally 
ineffectual attempts, on the part of mothers, to 
make boys the servants of female branches of 
the family, there pan be no doubt. Against this, 
nature herself rebels. The great point is to make 
both parties see their true position in relation to 
each other. There is something so graceful and 
beautiful, in a little sister looking up to a brother 
as her natural protector, while she, in turn, full of 
love and kindness, finds her happiness in adminis- 
tering to his^ that I cannot but think that all the 
instincts of nature would be on our side, if we did 
but train them up, keeping the distinctive position 
14 



158 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

wJdch God intends the sexes to occupy in relation to 
each other ^ always iii view. 

In connection with these efforts to call forth the 
gentler sensibilities of the mind, Cherish a taste for 
the simple and the heautiful. I take dt for granted, 
that you will devote a few hours, now and then, 
on a Saturday, to short pedestrian excursions into 
the country, with a few of the elder boys. It 
would be folly to throw away the opportunity 
which such rambles give for gaining young hearts. 
Seek, then, on such occasions, to open the eyes 
and ears of your pupils to the sweet sights and 
sounds of nature. Show them that the richest 
enjoyments are those which are to be had " with- 
out money and without price." Endeavor to make 
them enter into the spirit of Milton's exquisite 
lines : — 

** Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, 
With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the sun, 
When first on this delightful land he sheds 
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower. 
Glistening with dew ; fragrant th^e fertile earth 
After soft showers ; and sweet the coming on 
Of grateful evening mild ; then silent night, 
With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon, 
And these the gemg of heaven, her starry train." 

By these, and a thousand other means, which it 
is impossible to particularize, you may do much 
towards forming a taste for the kind, and the good, 
and the beautiful, which, if not virtue, is at least 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 159 

highly favorable to its cultivation. I am sure 
that these powerful influences, secondary* and 
subordinate as they are, only to the truths of the 
gospel, have been grievously neglected in elemen- 
tary schools. If duly cherished, they are capable 
of being made powerfully subsidiary in the forma- 
tion of an amiable and elevated character. 

I know there are some who argue, that this cul- 
tivation of the sensibilities, by no means increases 
the happiness of those who are the subjects of it, 
since it is impossible to enlarge the inlets of pleas- 
ure, without at the same time enlarging also the 
inlets of pain. The answer of Sir James Mack- 
intosh to an objector of this class comprises all 
that can be said in reply. ''If the admission of 
pain be a sufficient objection, it applies with equal 
force to every degree of thought and feeling ; so 
that it must be better to be an oyster than a man, 
and a stone than an oyster." 

The influence of vocal music, in civilizing and 
humanizing rugged natures, has frequently been 
adverted to by writers^ on education. That its 
importance has been exaggerated 'by some, there 
can be httle doubt ; and this very circumstance 
may, probably, have induced others to overlook 
altogether the benefits which may reasonably be 

* I say secondary, because the moment they are put in the place 
of the gospel, they become pernicious. There is a strange tendency 
to put asunder what God hath joined together* 



160 SCHOOL TEACHER S MANUAL. 

expected to follow from its cultivation. Luther, 
who employed sacred song as a most efficient 
instrument in advancing the reformation, observes, 
'' It has a mighty control over every movement of 
the human heart ; wherefore I recommend it to 
every man, particularly to youth, duly to love, 
honor, and esteem this precious^ useful^ and cheering 
gift of God ; the knowledge and diUgent use of 
which, will at all times drive off evil thoughts^ and 
diminish the effect of evil society and vices. It is neces^ 
sary," he adds, '' that this art be taught in schools. 
A school-master must be able to sing, or else I will 
not look upon him." 

The truth is, uncultivated minds, as well as 
cultivated ones, have their hours of relaxation and 
of repose, and if these hours be not occupied by 
some innocent amusement, they will too probably 
be given up to evil imaginations, to folly, and to 
vice. In Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and 
Prussia, a knowledge of vocal music is considered 
indispensable in a teacher. The minister of pub- 
lic instruction in Prussia, in one of his official 
documents on this subject, says, ^' The principal 
object in teaching music in these schools, is to 
cultivate the feehngs, and exert an influence in 
forming the habits and strengthening the powers 
of the will, for which mere knowledge, of itself, is 
altogether insufficient; hence it constitutes an 
essential part of educating instriictiouy and if con- 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 161 

stantly and correctly applied, renders the most 
unpolished nature capable of softer emotions, and 
subject to their influences." That it has so fre- 
quently been made the handmaid of depravity, 
and the instrument by which the most unholy pas- 
sions have been fostered and gratified, alone proves 
the greatness of the power it exercises over the 
human heart, and impressively teaches the impor- 
tance of converting it to nobler and better uses. 
But this can only be effected by forming the 
youthful taste on purer and better models, and by 
making that, which is now a rare accomphshment, 
the property of the people. 

" We have listened," says a recent traveler in 
Switzerland, '' to the peasant children's songs, as 
they went out to their morning occupations ; and 
saw their hearts enkindled to the highest tones of 
music and poetry, by the setting sun, or the famil- 
iar objects of nature, each of which was made to 
echo some truth, or point to some duty, by an 
appropriate song. We have heard them singing 
*the harvest hymn,' as they went forth, before 
day-light, to gather in the grain. We have seen 
them assembled in groups, at night, chanting a 
hymn of praise for the glories of the heavens, or 
joining in some patriotic chorus, or some social 
melody ; instead of the frivolous and corrupting 
conversation, which so often renders such meet^ 
ings the source of evil. In addition to this, we 
visited communities, where the youth had been 
14* 



162 SCHOOL teacher's manual, 

trained from their childhood to exercises in vocal 
music, of such a character as to elevate, instead 
of debasing the mind ; and have found, that it 
served in the same manner to cheer their social 
assemblies, in place of the noise of folly, or the 
poisoned cup of intoxication. We have seen the 
young men of such a community assembled, to 
the number of several hundreds, from a circuit of 
twenty miles ; and instead of spending a day of 
festivity in rioting and drunkenness, pass the 
whole time, with the exception of that employed 
in a frugal repast and a social meeting, in a con- 
cert of social, moral, and religious hymns, and 
devote the proceeds of the exhibition to some 
object of benevolence. We could not but look 
at the contrast presented on similar occasions, in 
our own country, with a blush of shame. We 
have visited a village, whose whole moral aspect 
.was changed in a few years, by the introduction 
of music of this character even among adults ; 
and where the aged were compelled to express 
their astonishment, at seeing the young abandon 
their corrupting and riotous amusements for this 
delightful and improving exercise." The pre- 
vailing notion, that vocal music cannot be taught 
successfully to any who have not a good ear 
for it, is like most other popular errors, a mere 
fallacy. All who are not destitute of the fac- 
ulty of distinguishing sounds, may learn it with 
ease. 



SCHOOL TEACAEr's MANUAL. 163 

Last in order here, but first in importance, I 
need scarcely say, in all moral education, is the 
inculcation of a regard for truth, — an ardent 
love for all that is true, — as opposed not only to 
falsehood and deceit, but to all vain hopes and 
false valuations. Men do not generally love truth. 
'* This same truth (says Lord Bacon)^is a naked 
and open day-hght, that doth not show the masques, 
.and mummeries, and triumphs of the present 
world, half so stately and daintily as candle-hghts. 
Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken 
from men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, 
false valuations, imaginations, as one would^ and 
the hke vinum dcemonum^ but it would leave the 
minds of a number of men, poor shrunken things, 
full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleas- 
ing to themselves ?" Alas, how true ! How 
many, in this way, first dupe themselves, and 
then become the dupes of others ! and what a 
bearing has this love of delusion, this habit of 
willing self-deception, on prevaihng neglect in 
matters of infinite moment ! How important, 
then, is it, that, from the first dawn of reason, 
the relation which subsists between truth and hap- 
piness, delusion and sorrow, should be constantly 
recognised and impressed ! In this respect em- 
phatically 

*VThe Child is the father of the man." 



164 SCHOOL teacher's MANUAX^r 

Where the love of truth is absent, at no period 
of life can any good eminence be attained, or any 
true happiness be enjoyed. Lying, is a propen- 
sity so demoralizing,' and yet so common in chil- 
dren, that the utmost care should be taken to 
check, and if possible, to eradicate it. The most 
frequent temptation to falsehood in the young, 
arises from fear ; and is too often occasioned by 
the violence, and capricious severity, of parents 
and teachers. This source of evil, I trust, you 
will avoid. Still you will find it necessary, strictly 
to watch against even the slightest deviation from 
truth on the part of your pupils ; and when you 
discover such a departure, the tone and temper of 
mind in which you reprobate this dreadful habit, 
should speak volumes to the heart of the offender. 
Under no circumstances whatever deceive a child, or 
tolerate a lie. , 

I need not enumerate other virtues. The chief 
point to be remembered by a teacher, in the cul- 
tivation of all virtue, and in the formation of every 
good habit, is, that constaiit regard must he had to 
the principle of association. The power of associa- 
tion is all but omnipotent in the minds of the 
young. Sympathy and pleasant associations, have 
far more influence in determining their habits and 
preferences, than either argument or persuasion. 
The great and difficult art is, insensibly to intro- 
duce into the mind pleasant associations with all 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 165 

that is good, and painful associations with all that 
is mean, degrading, or sinful. He who has 
accomplished this, has done much towards '' mag- 
netizing the mind anew, and calling it out into a 
fellowship and an existence of a higher order than 
it had previously owned." 

I must now briefly refer, to the improvement of 
what may be termed, the incidental opportu- 
nities which a school affords, for producing val- 
uable impressions on the youthful mind. 

As judge, the teacher presides in what may be 
termed the ultimate court of appeal ; and besides 
the ordinary direction of the school, many a quar- 
rel and wrong, which could not be decided in the 
class or the play-ground, comes at length to him. 
Now the degree of moral influence which a teacher 
can exercise, will depend very much on the way 
in which he deals with these cases. Some teach- 
ers content themselves, on such occasions, with a 
rapid and arbitrary decision ; and provided they 
only quiet the parties, and succeed in discouraging 
such troublesome apphcations for the future, they 
do not seem to concern themselves much, as to 
the absolute value of their judgments. This is 
wilfully throwing away moral influence. A wise 
teacher, on the contrary, without encouraging 
unnecessary and frivolous complaint, secretly hails 
all these references to himself, as aflK)rding the 
choicest opportunities, not only for exercising the 
highest and best kind of influence, but for observ- 



166 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

ing the extent to which he has already succeeded 
in the inculcation of right sentiments, or the form- 
ation of good habits. It is now that he can draw 
the hne distinctly between justice and injustice ; 
that he can bring down, even to infantile com- 
prehension, the secret operations of natural self- 
ishness on the heart ; that he can exhibit the 
beauty of meekness, and gentleness, and for- 
bearance, so that it shall be seen and felt ; and by 
a direct appeal to the consciousness of the offend- 
ing party, make it abundantly evident, that the 
violence of pride and passion, while it disturbs 
and destroys the tranquillity of the mind, casts 
up in its place nothing but "mire and dirt." 

The relation which rewards and punishments 
bear to moral impression, has already been advert- 
ed to, in a previous letter. To these remarks I 
have only one observation to add : Never deny a 
child any enjoyment merely for the sake of accustoming 
it to contradiction. You will find abundant oppor- 
tunity for demanding self-denial, aiid in cases 
where the wish of a child is opposed to its real 
welfare, without capriciously thwarting its incli- 
nations under the pretext of discipline. This 
mimicry of Providence is not only mischievous — 
it is wicked. It misrepresents the Divine dis- 
pensations, which are never capricious ; and it 
assumes a power, which Infinite Wisdom and 
Goodness alone is competent to exercise. Never, 
therefore, deprive a child of any enjoyment, with- 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 167 

out a good reason for so doing ; a reason which 
3^ou know would appear satisfactory to a benev- 
olent adult, and which you would explain to 
the child, if it were not better, for other and 
more powerful reasons, to withhold the inform- 
ation. 

Allusion has also been made, more than once, 
to the necessity of being consttotly on your guard 
against those opposing influences, which are ever 
at work, resisting, and too frequently counteract- 
ing your best endeavors. Parental example is 
oftentimes one of the most powerful of these 
antagonist influences with which you have to 
contend. The education of every child is far ad- 
vanced before it enters the walls of the school- 
room. While learning to speak and to walk, the 
young intelligence has been making observations, 
and forming habits, and laying up thoughts and 
feehngs, which will exert an influence, more or less 
powerful, over its whole life. This kind of educa- 
tion is too commonly bad, — thoroughly bad, — and 
what is worse, it is continually going on. Every 
day of its life it receives lessons in sin ; if not 
from parents, from friends and acquaintances ; at 
home or in the street; in the field or in the work- 
shop ; lessons, which it is but too quick to learn, 
and which are hardly ever rooted out. 

To meet this evil, all you can do is, to act as 
much as possible through the parents, w^here it is 
possible to obtain their co-operation. Converse 



168 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

with them on the peculiar talents and dispositions 
of their children ; try to induce them to act upon a 
plan; and urge the necessity of their exercising 
care and pains with their offspring, while young, 
if they would have them made comforts and bless- 
ings when they grow old. 

I know that a great deal of this labor will be 
thrown away ; but that is no reason for withhold- 
ing it. The truth is, we must be content to labor, 
with the expectation that a great deal of our toil 
will be in vain. If we cannot agree to this condi- 
tion of benevolence, we shall do very little good in 
the world. Let us not forget, that it is a high 
privilege to be permitted to do any good at all; 
and let us rest assured, that he who succeeds in 
throwing one good thought into any one mind, 
whether it be of a little child, or of an ignorant 
and careless adult, has not spent a day in vain. 

This branch of the subject, (the importance of 
obtaining the co-operation^ of parents,) recently 
formed the topic of discussion, at a meeting of 
British school teachers, at which about seventy 
assembled. Several interesting facts were then 
mentioned, one or two of which it may be advisa- 
ble to record. I give them in the words of the 
narrators, distinguishing each speaker by a letter 
of the alphabet. 

A. ** I have made it a point of duty, ever since I have 
had a school under my care, to visit as many of the 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 169 

parents as possible, on Saturday mornings. I have 
found innumerable benefits to result from the practice. 
I have been able to correct misrepresentations ; to re- 
move prejudices ; to ascertain the real dispositions of 
the children ; to prevent truant-playing ; to check false- 
hood ; and greatly to promote the reformation of no- 
torious offenders. Visits to sick children, I have found 
eminently beneficial. The parents value these little 
attentions, and the children are delighted beyond meas- 
ure. The mother of a sick child told me, that he had 
been crying for his teacher to come and see him, all the 
night.'* 

B. " I have frequently been much cheered, by hearing 
from the parents of the pleasing results of my labors. 
A few days ago I visited one, who told me he had spent 
a very dissipated life, until his little boy began to read to 
him in the evenings. The portions of scripture he thus 
heard, brought him to reflection, and produced an entire 
change of character. Another, v/ho had long held infi- 
del principles, had been led to receive the truth, by read- 
ing Keith on the Prophecies, which book his child had 
brought from the school library." 

C. " On visiting one of my children, who had been 
withdrawn from school, I found it was occasioned by 
afflictions of various kinds, which disabled the parents 
from paying even the trifle charged. As the boy was 
remarkably well-behaved, I agreed to take him for 
nothing. He remained in this way two years, after 
which r recommended him to a situation, in which he 
now receives 155. a week, and greatly assists his parents. 
Had I not visited him, he would probably have been left 
to ruin. In another case, I detected, by visitation, un- 

15 



170 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

expected truancy in two of my eldest boys : I succeeded 
in bringing them to their knees before their weeping 
mothers ; and they are now thoroughly reformed." 

D. "A boy in my school, Who I had every reason to 
believe was a good boy, came to me, and said that he 
was going to a situation as a cork-cutter on the follow- 
ing Monday, and requested permission to take home his 
writing-book. I told him to bring me a note from his 
grandmother, his parents being dead. He said she could 
not write. I requested shfe would call. He brought 
word that her employment prevented her. From some 
circumstance or other, I did not visit her ; and now I 
have to confess, that by not doing so, I left him to com- 
mit sins, from which I might have saved him. The 
whole story was a fabrication. The deceit was not dis- 
covered for two months, by which time great injury was 
done to the boy's character. He is now again with me, 
and the circumstance has taught me a lesson, by which 
I hope in future to profit." 

I will only mention one other source of evil,, 
against which it is necessary to guard, and that is, 
THE FLATTERY OF VISITORS. Nothing should be 
said in the presence of a child which is likely to 
excite its vanity ; and yet, how many persons are 
indiscreet enough to be continually making ob- 
servations, in the presence of the young, on the 
marked superiorit}^, which in some cases they 
think they perceive, in physical appearance, men- 
tal power, or moral development ! You cannot 
always prevent this absurd folty, but you should 
take immediate steps for counteracting it ; not, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 171 

indeed, by unduly depreciating those who are 
really superior, but by pointing out, and impress- 
ing the obvious truth, that excellence is of various 
kinds, and that if they have attained it in one 
branch, others are pursuing it by a different route, 
and will probably, ere long, equal, or surpass 
them. Such an occasion should also be seized to 
remind the pupil, that natural talents, as well as 
opportunities for improving them^ are the gifts of 
a Being, who, in his infinite wisdom and good- 
ness, bestows or withholds them, irrespective of 
personal merits. '' What hast thou, which thou 
hast not received?" is a question which a child 
can answer ; and I know of no more suitable time 
for asking it, than the hour or moment in which 
exultation is. felt, in the consciousness of intellect- 
ual power. At such a period, a delicate reference 
to the distressing circumstances of idiot children, 
or to those who are distinguished for remarkable 
deficiencies in apprehension, may tend, not only to 
excite humility and gratitude, but also to call forth 
tender sensibilities towards these weak and afflict- 
ed ones. 

By the diligent pursuit of these means, you will 
eventually create a good moi^al atmos'phere in 5^our 
school ; public opinion will be on the side of vir- 
tue ; and a majority at least, of the children, will 
always be ready to assist you in its promotion. 
Nothing can be of more importance. As it is by 
moral contagion that vice spreads among the 



172 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

young, rather than by false reasonings or delusive 
attempts to corrupt, so it is by a like influence of 
a different character, that" virtuous habits are form- 
ed and strengthened. ' A depraved child entering 
a school, in which this correct tone prevails, will 
soon find himself obliged, either to withdraw from 
its influence, or will insensibly become assimilated 
to its temper and spirit. 

In order to accomplish all this, however, you 
will find it necessary to act systematically. You 
must lay down^ day by day, your 'plan of 'procedure ; 
and you must so arrange your time, and husband 
your strength, that not only shall each branch of 
morals, in turn, come under distinct and specific 
notice, but that all the machinery of your school, 
your intellectual exercises, and general arrange- 
ments, may work so regularly and easily, that 
they may facilitate, and not impede, the great end 
and object you have in view. 

Direct devotional-exercises, where the con- 
stitution of a school permits the introduction of 
social worship, may, -zmier wise direction, certainly 
be made productive of great good. But, oh, how 
much depends upon the manner and spirit in 
which they are performed ! Weariness and dis- 
gust, are the least evils that flow from injudicious 
attempts to impress truth in this way. Habits of 
sincerity are dreadfully endangered, in any mind 
which is repeatedly called upon to participate in 
protracted devotional exercises, unsuited to its 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 173 

capacity, and unadapted to its wants. In such 
cases, prayer becomes absolutely an evil. Train- 
ed thus to formaUty and hypocrisy, what can be 
expected, but that children should despise at heart, 
that which they have long been accustomed to en- 
gage in without sincerity or dehght ? 

How much deeper is the mischief, if the teach- 
er, entering his school-room with a hurried, dis- 
turbed, and angry mind, rushes to devotion as if 
it were a matter of school business, and then rising 
from his knees, vents upon his scholars the ill tem- 
per which has been kept back, but not subdued, 
by the apparent act of worship ! Prayer would 
indeed be a blessing, if the performance of it could 
insure, during the day, even a moderate share of 
meekness and consistent piety. I do not scruple 
to say, that w^hen a teacher does not habitually 
act in the temper and spirit of devotion, he had 
far better omit, before children at least, the out- 
ward forms of it. It is for this reason, that aU 
legislative enactments as to prayer in day-schools 
are to be reprobated ; and hence the rashness 
and inconsideration of those, who consider all 
schools irreligious in which oral prayer is not 
practised. 

Whatever difficulties may, however, embarrass 
the introduction, by a law, of direct, devotional 
exercises in schools, there are none which stand 
in the way of the teacher's earnest and constant 
supplication in secret, for a blessing upon those 
15* 



174 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

committed to his care ; in the absence of which, 
every effort to affect the heart will be power- 
less, and every expectation of success vain and 
delusive. 

But it is time that I brought this letter to a close ; 
and yet how few and imperfect, after aJl, are the 
suggestions it contains, when viewed in relation 
to the extent and importance of the subject on 
which it treats ! The work is, in fact, gigantic. 
There is so much to do, that can never he put dow7i 
on paper ; so much depends upon seizing the right 
moment, and so much upon adapting the mode 
pursued, to the exigencies of the time, and the 
disposition of the child ; such a nice sense of jus^ 
tice and of propriety, is required on the part of the 
teacher ; so much ingenuousness and benevolence ; 
such unceasing vigilance ; such unwearied pa- 
tience ; so much self-government and self-denial ; 
so much tact ; such a knowledge of human,nature ; 
so much skill in rewarding ; so much wisdom in 
punishing ; that I have again and again been led 
to exclaim, in penning these thoughts, '' Who is 
sufficient for these things ?" Under the weight of 
difficulties so many, and responsibilities so bur- 
densome, a conscientious man could never be 
sustained, if it were not for the thought, that He 
whom we serve, '^knoweth our frame, and re- 
membereth that we are dust;" that he kindly ac- 
cepts the most imperfect services, if rendered in 
dependence upon him, and with a desire for his 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL.^ 175 

glory ; and that he will at length say, emphatical- 
ly, in relation to this service, — " Inasmuch as ye 
did it unto one of the least of these," my little ones, 
^'ye did it unto me." 



LETTER VIL— TO THE SAME. 

MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL HABITS OF 
A TEACHER. 

I have already attached so much importance to 
a teacher's embodying in his own character the 
truths he is endeavoring to inculcate, that I almost 
feel unwilling again to advert to the subject. But 
if it be true, that '' mothers and schoolmasters 
plant the seeds of nearly all the good and evil in 
the world ;" if it be the great, the universal law 
of morals, as well as of physics, that "kind shall 
bring forth after its kind ;" then, since the educa- 
tor can but reproduce his own image ; since good 
and evil are continually "going out of him;" and 
by the power of a mysterious assimilation, chil- 
dren become and do, just what he is and does ; it 
is scarcely possible, too frequently or too earnestly 
to impress upon his mind, that, while no man min- 
isters at a holier altar, no man stands more in need 
of an enlarged heart and a purified spirit than 
himself. 

It is not, however, my intention even to enumer- 
ate, the various excellences which should adorn 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 177 

the character of the Christian teacher. You know 
the apostohc injunction : — " Whatsoever things 
are true ; whatsoever things are honest ; whatso- 
ever things are just ; whatsoever things are pure ; 
whatsoever things are lovely ; whatsoever things 
are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if 
there be any praise, think on these things." (Phil, 
iv. 8.) Three or four general hints, on the culti- 
vation of habits calculated to insure respect and 
esteem in the world, to facilitate the discharge of 
school duties, — and to aid in the acquisition of 
useful knowledge, — is all that I ask permission to 
offer. 

1. Cultivate diligently the hcibit of rigid self-control. 
He can never rule others successfully, who has 
not first learned to govern himself* But self- 
government is a virtue of no easy attainment ; 
implying, as it commonly does, much painful dis- 
cipline, and sometimes a degree of mental endur- 
ance, which the strongest motives alone can enable 
a man to bear. It must extend, not only to the 
government of the temper and passions, but to the 
regulation of the whole conduct : it must determine 
the distribution of time ; the expenditure of money ; 
the choice of studies ; and the selection both of 
companions and of amusements ; and all this, as 
I before said, implies painful discipline. Without 
self-government, however, you can, as a teacher, 
literally do nothing. Where this is wanting, it is 
obviously impossible to carry out any settled plan, 



178 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

either for our own good, or for the benefit of others* 
Carried about by every wind of passion, the 
wretched victim of ill-temper and caprice rejects 
to-day, that which but yesterday he judged to be 
above all things desirable ; his ow^n irritated spirit 
kindles irritation in every other bosom ; and obsta- 
cles unknown to the tranquil and the meek, block 
up every avenue to the hearts and consciences of 
those who are under his control. 

2. Carefully avoid every thing that is repulsive^ even 
to the most sensitive^ either in manner or conduct. Be 
neat in your person. A slovenly appearance de- 
grades a man in the sight of the world, and always 
lessens the respect he receives from children. A 
man is fearfully mistaken, if he imagines that any 
strength of mind, or variety of attainments, will 
excuse vulgarity, rudeness, or dirt. Need I add, 
avoid altogether the use oftohacco and snuff ^ These 
habits, to say nothing .of the expense, which is by 
no means inconsiderable, or of the injury which 
they often do to health, which is much more than 
is commonly suspected, furnish a most pernicious 
example to be constantly before the eyes of chil- 
dren, who are influenced vastly more by example 
than by precept. Think of all the scholars in a 
school using this filthy weed. What would be its 
aspect ? Why should the teacher indulge habits 
that he reprobates among his scholars ! 

Let me entreat you also, carefully to guard 
against the formation of certain mental habits, to 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 179 

which your station and employment particularly 
expose you. You are accustomed to command in 
the school ; and if you do not take great care, you 
will feel it difficult to brook contradiction out of it. 
Without incessant watchfulness, you will become 
arrogant and dogmatic, or pedantic and prejudi- 
ced. Such is the natural tendency of constant 
intercourse with immature minds, looking up to 
the teacher as an authority. Now all these things 
are so extremely offensive to intelligent persons, 
that, if indulged, they will effectually shut you out 
from society, to which, under other circumstances, 
you might obtain easy access. 

In all your intercourse with your Committees^ he 
modest and courteous. You must expect to have 
something to bear from them, especially if they 
take ati active part in the management of the 
school. They may occasionally decide on mat- 
ters they do not at all understand, and perhaps 
put aside, by a word, plans which have cost you 
days or weeks of anxious thought to develop. All 
this is very trying ; but there is no remedy for it, 
so long as you are under a committee at all. It is 
impossible to bring any body of men together, to 
promote a common object, without suffering some- 
thing from the prejudices and peculiarities which 
come in with them. If, therefore, they err, or act 
in a way w^hich you cannot approve, there is but 
one course for you, — submit cheerfully, or leave 
their employ. " The obligation of the teacher to 



180 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

yield, is not founded on the superior wisdom of 
his employers, in reference to the business for 
which they have engaged him, for they may be 
inferiors in this respect ; but upon their right, as 
employers, to determine how their own work shall 
be done." 

3. Diligently pursue a regular and systematic 
course of private study ; and let it hear as much as 
possible upon the duties of your particular profession. 
The great object of all education is to prepare for 
usefulness. Keep this in mind, and read and 
study simply with the view of thereby obtaining 
the power to do more good, in the particular posi- 
tion in which Providence has placed you. A 
teacher who feels aright on this point, will soon 
see that it is his first duty, to make himself tho- 
roughly acquainted with the elements of know- 
ledge. He cannot be content to read or write ill, 
in order that he may give more time to the mathe- 
matics ; nor will he consider it any apology for 
spelling incorrectly, or for being a dull and slow 
arithmetician, that he is a diligent student of 
Latin. A man who acts in this foolish and incon- 
sistent way, (and, alas, there are many,) might 
learn wisdom from the savages. Some Virginian 
philanthropists once offered to educate a number 
of American Indians : they received the following 
reply: — ''Brothers of the white skin, you must 
know that all people do not have the same, ideas 
on the same subjects ; and you must not take it ill, 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 181 

that our manner of thinking, in regard to the kind 
of education which you offer us, does not agree 
with yours. We have had, in this particular, 
some experience. Several of our young men 
were, some time since, educated at the northern 
colleges, and learned there all the sciences ; but 
when they returned to us, we found they were 
spoiled. They were miserable runners ; they did 
not know how to live in the woods ; they could 
not bear hunger and cold ; they could neither build 
a cabin, nor kill a deer, nor conquer an enemy ; 
they had even forgotten our language ; so that not 
being able to serve us as warriors, or hunters, 
or counsellors, they were absolutely good for 
nothing." Too many teachers are like these 
young savages : they may be excellent mathema- 
ticians, and good classical scholars ; but, alas, 
they read so ill, write so carelessly, and are withal 
so unwilling to stoop to the drudgery of communi- 
cating the elements of knowledge, to those who 
can digest nothing else, that, as teachers in an 
elementary school, they are absolutely good for 
nothing. 

Let it, I pray you, be your first object, to be 
thoroughly grounded in every branch of knowledge 
you have to teach. The steady, continuous labor 
which must be gone through, to know any thing 
whatsoever thoroughly, is an admirable discipline 
for the mind. ^ Besides, nothing is so prohfic as 
one thing well known ; it is an excellent starting 
16 



182 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

point for a thousand others. Study principles ; 
and never rest satisfied until you are so familiar 
with every thing you profess, and v^ith the steps 
byAvhich it must be attained, that you can at 
once ascertain whether your pupils do, or do not 
understand what you are communicating, — can 
discover where their difficulties lie, — can clear up 
that which is obscure, — illustrate that which is 
but partially understood, — and present old truths 
in new and varied aspects. In this way alone, 
can you ever hope to be an interesting instructor. 
For although it be true, that there must be some 
natural "aptness to teach," in order to communi- 
cate knowledge successfully, yet most persons 
probably owe more to culture^ in this respect, than 
is commonly imagined. No natural talent will 
enable a man to gain the interest and respect of 
his pupils so soon, as such a knowledge of his 
profession, as wil! enable him quickly to detect an 
inaccuracy, and to discuss and settle the various 
questions and difficulties w^hich press upon the 
mind, and, naturally enough, seem all-important 
to the pupil. ''It is worthy of remark," says 
Professor Jardine, '' that whatever change for the 
better shall be made in our systems of education, 
it must begin with the teachers themselves. The 
art of teaching, like all other arts, is founded 
chiefly on experience. Improvements, therefore, 
are not to be expected from legislators and poli- 
ticians, who have many other objects to engage 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 183 

their attention ; nor even from men of science, 
unless they have had experience in the business 
of education. It therefore becomes the duty of 
every one engaged in teaching, to collect facts, to 
record observations, to watch the progress of the 
human faculties, as they expand under the influ- 
ence of education, and thus to unite their efforts 
for the general improvement of our academical 
estabhshments ." 

Teachings then, should be the object of your 
constant meditations. It should engage your 
thoughts by night and by day ; and it should 
regulate, to a very large extent, your private 
studies ; — it should be the end of your labors. 
The principal reason why there are so few good 
teachers, is, that a school is almost always 
regarded as a stepping-stone to something else. 
The hireling fulfils his day, and then hastens to 
pursuits more congenial to his taste, and destined, 
he trusts, eventually to deliver him from the pres- 
ent "house of bondage." This is ruinous to 
success. Ardor and enthusiasm are absolutely 
necessary to carry a teacher through the drudgery 
of his duties. He must take pleasure in com- 
municating instruction to youth ; his immediate 
reward must be their progress ; and in the con- 
sciousness of discharging one of the most impor- 
tant of all obligations, he must find motives 
sufficiently powerful to sustain him under exhaust- 
ing labor. 



184 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

Since, however, the abihty to instruct ably in 
the elementary branches, demands a thorough 
knowledge of a variety of subjects, it will be 
desirable, still to heep in view the advancement ofyonr 
school^ to pursue a course of study of a much 
more enlarged character than would be required, 
but for its relation to the general discipline and 
improvement of the mind. It is not perhaps desi- 
rable, that I should here attempt to lay down 
any distinct course of study for your guidance. 
In deciding upon any given plan, the previous 
habits of the mind, — ^the degree of information 
already possessed, — the natural taste and ability 
of the student, must all be taken into account. 
The essential literary qualifications of an element- 
ary school-master, at present, are : — 1. Good 
READING. 2. Correct ORTHOGRAPHY. 3. Free and 
graceful writing. 4. A thorough knowledge of 
ARITHMETIC 5. An acquaintance with the prin- 
ciples of English GRAMMAR, and of English com- 
position, with some skill and taste in the latter. 
6. A general knowledge of geography; and 7. 
Some acquaintance with ancient and modern 
HISTORY ; especially that portion of the former 
which illustrates the sacred writings, and that 
department of the latter which relates to our own 
country. 

Possessed of these, it will be well for you to 
turn your attention to the study of the external 
WORLD, and to gain such an acquaintance with 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 185 

the animal and vegetable creation, as shall enable 
you to explain the habits of animals and insects, 
and the properties of flowers and plants. The 
elements of natural philosophy and of chemis- 
try, should perhaps next gain your attention. 
High interest may be excited in a school, by 
familiar explanations of the most common phe- 
nomena. Geometry and linear drawing, in 
its various branches, will of course not be neg- 
lected. Without a knowledge of the former, you 
can scarcely proceed a step in science ; and the 
latter is invaluable, were it only as a means of 
illustration. 

But the chief object of your study, after all, 
should be human nature^ and the laws which regu- 
late and govern the human mind. Study these, 
not merely as laid down in books, but by a con- 
stant habit of observing and analysing character ; 
tracing the motives of actions, both in your&elf 
and in others ; and observing conduct, in reference 
to the moral principles which lie at the foundation 
of it. Account nothing too minute and trivial for 
meditation. It is by the frequent contemplation 
of trivial instances, that^ great general principles 
are developed. 

Mental philosophy, which, as a science, may 
be termed '' the anatomy of human nature," 
should be diligently studied by every instructor 
of the young. There can be no doubt, that 
Mr. Dugald Stewart is right, in remarking that 
16* 



186 SCHOOL teacher's manual* 

** Education would be more systematic and en- 
lightened, if the powers and faculties on which 
it operates, were more scientifically examined and 
better understood." For " what," he adds, '' is 
the whole business of education, but a practical 
application of rules, deduced from our own exper- 
iments or from those of others, on the most effect- 
ual modes of developing and of cultivating the 
intellectual faculties and the moral principles f" 
Unless you have distinct notions of these faculties, 
both in their simple and combined forms, and in 
their mutual influence over each other, I do not 
see how you can ever pursue any distinct plan for 
their culture and improvement. This knowledge 
is, in fact, as essential to you, as an acquaintance 
with the nature and kinds of the several soils 
which he attempts to render productive, is to the 
intelligent husbandman. Under the most favora- 
ble circumstances, you will have much experience 
to gain at the cost of your pupils ; it is therefore 
of the highest importance, that you should take 
every precaution to avoid unnecessary mischief. 
Books on education, involving the application of 
these principles, will from time to time come 
under your notice, and these will doubtless be 
perused with eagerness. But allow me to say, 
read them cautiously. In this department it is espe- 
cially necessary to 'Hry the spirits," for "false 
prophets are gone out into the world." Many a 
promising volume will not be found to furnish 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. ' 187 

a single hint that is really practical and val- 
uable. 

In all your studies^ endeavor to cultivate clearness 
and precision of thought; carefully discriminate between 
sound and false reasoning; and habitually seek after 
great general principles. That habit of expressing 
the result of your inquiries, in your own words in 
writing, will be found highly beneficial, in pre- 
venting indistinctness and confusion in your ideas ; 
and the immediate impartation to others of that 
which you have acquired, will, more than any 
thing else, tend to improve your own mind. 

In order to the accomplishment of these things, 
I know that great difficulties must be overcome. 
Your previous occupations and habits of mind, 
have perhaps been unfavorable to mental ap- 
pfication, and now, the exercise of attentiojv, 
(on which every acquisition depends,) is, in any 
degree of intensity, laborious and painful. Do 
not, however, be discouraged ; by repeated efforts, 
that which is hard will become easy. Cultivate 
the habit of attention. Be always attentive. If you 
are observing phenomena of any kind, do it care- 
fully,— -with your whole mind. If you are reflect- 
ing on any subject, be determined to abstract 
yourself, for the time being, from all external dis- 
turbances. In short, whatever you do, '^ do it 
heartily;" or, as Lord Brougham has expressed 
it, *'be a whole man to one thing at once." If 
you can obtain this kind of mastery over your 



188 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

faculties, you will find it comparatively easy to 
pass with advantage from one occupation to 
another ; to stop one train of thought, and to 
commence another ; and thus to improve those 
fragments of time, which otherwise will certainly 
be lost. 

Still, with all your care and effort, you must 
expect to suffer much, not only from that natural 
restlessness which belongs to almost every mind 
which has not been well disciplined in early life, 
but also from the wanderings of a vain and way- 
ward imagination. The regulation of the imagin- 
ation, is so intimately connected with virtuous 
habits, that, even apart from any considerations 
connected with the improvement of the intellect, 
the most anxious attention should be paid to its 
culture and government. This faculty, which 
exercises itself in the re-production of past sen- 
sations and notions, bringing vividly before the 
mind both good and evil, in various forms, and 
combined in every possible variety of manner, 
tyrannizes over some men with terrible and des- 
potic sway. The objects which in early life have 
usurped the mind, — the books which have been 
read, — ^the trains of thought which have been 
indulged, — these, constitute the materials, by 
means of which it creates pictures, re-produces 
sensations and emotions, recals ideas, and, accord- 
ing to the character of these creations and re- 
productions, ennobles or contaminates the man. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 189 

Hence the importance, not only of habitually con- 
trolling the immediate exercise of this imjDcrious 
faculty, but also of excluding from the mind every 
thing of a debasing and corrupting tendency. 
The mischief which is produced by reading im- 
moral writings, for instance, can never be estimated 
by any immediate result. At the moment of peru- 
sal, the mind may be apparently unaffected by 
the evil with w^hich it is thus brought into contact ; 
other passions or sentiments may be in dominion ; 
a momentary smile is, perhaps, all that has been 
excited, and the matter is forgotten : the polluted 
train, of foul images and bad thought, has passed 
so rapidly along, that it seems as if it had never 
been. And it is not perhaps till years afterward, 
in some hour of sudden temptation, or at some 
period of that history, which is known only to 
himself and God, that the dehnquent finds out, in 
all the bitterness of a tortured and agonized spirit, 
how deep is the injury which he has inflicted on 
his moral nature, and how difficult he has made 
the attainment of that purity of heart and mind, 
after which he now perhaps most intensely longs. 
This faculty, therefore, must be subjected to 
severe and constant discipline, if you would attain 
to any high degree, either of intellectual or moral 
excellence. 

All this, I again say, implies labor, — ^great 
labor, — and there is no help for it. Labor, is the 
price God requires us to pay for any earthly good, 



190 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

and we must not grudge the amount. Intellectu- 
ally, as well as physically^ it is the Divine appoint- 
ment, that man shall earn his bread " by the sweat 
of his face ;" and there is no evasion of this general 
law. " Without lab"or and discipline, all direct 
instruction must be unavailing and useless. The 
ordinary processes of instruction may put us in a 
condition for improvement ; they may afford us 
the light of experience to direct our efforts ; they 
may remove unnecessary obstacles from our path ; 
they may point out our defects, and show us the 
method of correcting them ; they may enable us 
to strengthen what is weak, and to use well what 
is strong ; they may instruct us in the best em- 
ployment of our faculties ; they may teach us how 
to study, when to study, what to study, and 
wherefore to study ; but after all, study we must, 
and study is self work, and incomparably the 
hardest work that is accomplished beneath the 
sun. The most elaborate and manifold apparatus 
of instruction, can impart nothing of importance to 
the passive and inert mind. It is almost as una- 
vailing as the warmth and light of the sun, and all the 
sweet influences of the heavens^ shed upon the desert 
sands. ^"^^ 

Let me recommend you then, to inscribe over 
the door of your apartment, the motto of the nor- 
mal school of Pyritz, in Pomerania, '^ Pray and 

^ Channing. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 191 

work." You cannot stand still. The moment 
you cease to be a diligent student, your relative 
position in society begins to alter ; others are 
pressing forward, and if you remain contented 
with present acquisitions, a few years hence you 
will find yourself far below your present standing 
in the community. You have more time for intel- 
lectual improvement than falls to the lot of persons 
in any other employment, and if you do not im- 
prove it, you deserve to sink. 

• 4. Cherish a Tcindly feeling towards the youngs at 
all times ^ and under all circumstances. Do not attrib- 
ute to children, dispositions and tendencies which 
do not belong to them. Many are absolutely dis- 
couraged from undertaking any benevolent effort 
on their behalf, by the frequent complaints which 
are uttered by teachers, respecting their character 
and conduct : they are perverse, lazy, thoughtless, 
ungrateful, and wicked. A well qualified in- 
structor smiles at these complaints ; for he knows 
that " the teacher is to blame ; he is ranking among 
crimes, actions which are but the unavoidable re- 
sults of their characters as children ; he is seehing 
fruit in the time of blossoms ^ Salzmann, to whom 
I have already more than once referred, insists, 
that by far the greater number of those faults and 
defects which grieve the teacher, are but the natu- 
ral results of his own conduct. Be that as it may, 
it is certainly of the utmost importance that a 
tepxher should have a good opinion of children ; 



192 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

that he should always put the most favorable con- 
struction upon their conduct ; that he should re- 
member, that children not only do think and act 
like children, but ought to do so ; that, in short, he 
should be fond of them. Cultivate, therefore, a 
warm interest in their society, and under all cir- 
cumstances be their friend. 

5. Studiously avoid every tiling which is calculated 
to impair your health. Children have no sympathy 
with morbid affections of the liver and spleen ; — 
an instructor must be cheerful and happy. But 
cheerfulness depends very much on the state of 
the body ; almost any degree of despondency or 
irritability may be produced by irregularity of 
diet, neglect of exercise, or want of sufficient sleep. 
Take care, therefore, of your health. Beware of 
late hours. Rise as early as you like, but retire 
to repose before midnight. ^ 



"Long vigils 



Must need impair that promptitude of mind 
And cheerfulness of spirit j which, in him 
Who leads a multitude, is past all price. ^^^ 

Finally : in all you do, whether relating to the 
management of your school, or to the regula- 
tion of your private studies, act upon a plan. 
Sketch out, every morning, the business of the 
day, and then pursue the appointed duty with 
freshness of spirit, with interest, and with hope. 

* Taylor's Philip Von Artevelde. 



SCHOOL TEACHER S MANUAL. 193 

You may find it difficult, perhaps impossible, to 
plan for any extended period, hut jjlan you must. 
Without pre-considered and definite arrange-^ 
ments, you will never be able to conduct satisfac^ 
torily the complicated business of a school, or to 
pursue with advantage any course of private study. 
Much more niight be added. A thousand sug- 
gestions crowd upon my mind, for which I can 
find no place ; suggestions relating to the general 
discipline of the mind ; to the improvement of the 
faculties ; to the attainment of self-knowledge ; to 
the repression of pride, selfishness, and envy ; to 
the cultivation of the devout affections ; the quick- 
ening of conscience ; the cherishing of purity, 
honor, punctuality, and prudence; the regulation 
of general reading and conversation ; the schooling 
of the heart ; and the absolute necessity of con- 
stant dependence on that divine and blessed Spirit, 
without whose aid even the renewed soul cannot 
lift its desires and affections heavenward. All 
this, and much more, should come under notice, 
were I not checked by the thought, that this spe- 
cies of advice, which would of itself make a vol- 
ume, has already been offered by others, in every 
way better qualified than myself to impart such 
instruction. One word only would I add : — Let 
no day pass without spending some portion of your time 
alone ivith God. "An hour of solitude, passed in 
sincere and earnest prayer, or, in conflict with, 
and conquest over a single passion, or ' subtle 
17 



194 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

bosom sin,' will teach more of thought, will more 
effectually awaken the faculty, and form the habit 
of reflection, than a year's study in the schools 
without them."* 

* Coleridge. 



LETTER VIIL— TO A FRIEND. 



DUTIES OF A SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 

In compliance with your kind request, I will 
endeavor, my dear friend, to put down as briefly 
as I can, the objects for which, as it appears to me, 
a school committee is appointed, and the duties it 
is intended to fu^lfil. These, you will soon see, 
are neither few nor unimportant, whether consid- 
ered in relation to the teacher, the children, or the 
pubhc. I shall refer to them in their natural order. 

1. The School Room. The first duty of a 
committee is certainly to provide a suitable build- 
ing for the purposes of instruction ; a room that is 
light, dry, warm, clean, and well ventilated. 
When I think of the damp and unwholesome 
rooms into which teachers and children are too 
often crowded, my heart sickens. I know more 
than one instance, in which a promising teacher 
has in this way been given up to death, through 
the apathy and sinful negligence of those, whose 
dutv it was to have exerted themselves on his 
behalf. 



196 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

But it is not enough that proper arrangements, 
in relation to health, are secured in the first in- 
stance ; care must be taken that this provision is 
actually made available, and that by firequent and 
thorough ventilation of the room, every thing is 
done which can be done, to insure, for all parties 
occupying it, cheerfulness and activity, both of 
body and mind. Teachers often neglect this im- 
portant part of their duty, and through mere care- 
lessness, allow their schools to become dirty, and 
even unhealthy. Now a committee should guard 
against this serious evil, by insisting upon the 
school-room being always kept clean, neat, and in 
good order ; and by making liberal provision for 
frequent white-washing and painting, as well as 
for the repair of accidental injury. The 7noral 
effect of a clean and well-aired room, with conven- 
ient and pleasant accommodations, upon children, 
is too important to be disregarded by any who are 
much concerned for their welfare. In fine weath- 
er, teachers should be encouraged to take advan- 
tage of the nearest plot of ground, and to carry on 
there the lessons of the school. 

2. School Materials. The purchase of these, 
at suitable times, and in sufficient quantities, obvi- 
ously comes next in the order of duty. Some 
committees are very unwilling to furnish a good 
supply, even of necessary articles. This is, ta 
say the least of it, bad ]Jolicy. It should, on the 
contrary, be their business, from time to time, ta 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 197 

look round the school, to see what lessons are dirty 
and torn, — what slates broken, — what books are 
wanted, — and to take care that a teacher shall find 
no apology for neglect in the absence of suitable 
materials. A few dollars judiciously applied eve- 
ry year in this way, without waiting for solicitation 
from the master^ would often do more to stimulate 
both him and his pupiJ-S than any thing else. 

3. Teacher. Having provided a teacher with 
the means of conducting his school well, it is the 
next duty of the committee' to see that these are 
faithfully and diligently improved. The first point 
to be secured from him is early and regular attend- 
ance ; and to this end, the visiting members should 
occasionally call at the school, a few minutes be- 
fore nine in th<e morning, and before two in the 
afternoon. Irregularity of attendance on his part 
will be fatal to the efficiency of a school. If the 
teacher be habitually five minutes too late, the 
children will, as certainly, be ten or fifteen min- 
utes later. A committee should occasionally take 
pains to ascertain the habits of a teacher in this 
respect. 

The next object to be kept in view is good order. 
There is no difficulty whatever in discovering 
whether a teacher has, or has not, the entire com- 
mand of his school. On this head, nothing short 
of ocular demonstration should suffice ; and if it 
cannot be afforded, at will, a committee may rely 

upon it there is something wrong. It may always 
X7# 



198 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

be taken for granted, that where there is imperfect 
control, but little instruction can be imparted, and 
no moral influence exercised whatever. Where 
such a defect is observed, they should at once in- 
quire into the cause ; and if it be found to result, 
as it frequently will, from the partial and defective 
training of the monitors, where they are employed, 
they should provide for the emergency. If no 
other course is practicable, it would be better, that 
for a few weeks, the mass of scholars should be 
kept in the school only four hours a day, and thus 
two hours be secured for more faithful and indi- 
vidual attention to the monitors, than to allow the 
defect to continue. By such a course, the whole 
school would actually derive more improvement, 
than from a greater number of hours professedly 
devoted to instruction, but accompanied by dis- 
traction and disorder. 

In connexion with this requirement, however, 
every thing should be done to sustain the teacher^ s 
authority. No word of complaint, or expression of 
disapprobation, should ever fall upon his ear in 
presence of the children ; in their eye he should 
be quite as important a person as any member of 
the committee ; the moment he ceases to be so, his 
power is in a great measure gone. It is obvious 
that he must he trusted. If he cannot be allowed to 
punish, excepting in the presence of the managers, 
or if it is necessary to determine for him, the na- 
ture and extent of the infliction, he is not fit to be 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 199 

teacher. Under such circumstances, a man 
almost always resorts to some disingenuous con- 
trivance for attaining his end,— ^a species of trick- 
ery which is both degrading and demoraUzing. 

The third point to be secured is, adherence to a 
system. It is of vast importance to a committee, 
carefully to guard against rash and hasty innova- 
tions. Some teachers are always making discov- 
eries,— metamorphosing their schools, for the pur- 
pose of carr5dng out some new principle, — and 
ending, as these experiments generally do, in the 
complete disorganization, if not dispersion, of the 
pupils. Now, while it is far from desirable, that 
the committees of schools should generally inter- 
fere with their internal management ; while they 
should be careful not to check the enthusiasm 
which leads to the occasional introduction of a new 
plan, or the modification of an old one ; while they 
should by no means damp ardor by indifference, 
or paralyze exertion by. minute and vexatious 
legislation ; they should, on the other hand, reso- 
lutely oppose every deviation from great general 
principles, which have been long found to work 
well ; and they should invariably discourage that 
love of change, which almost always issues in dis- 
order. The impossibilty of obtaining a successor 
to such a teacher, without an entire re-organization 
of the school, is a position in which no wise com- 
mittee would willingly place itself. 



200 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

But all is not done, in relation to the teacher, 
when early attendance, good order and system 
are secured. He needs sympathy, to bear him 
through the many difficulties and discouragements, 
which, under the most favorable circumstances, 
fall to the lot of every conscientious instructor of 
the young. Mr. x\bbott mentions two sources of 
trial which he considers peculiar to teaching, — 
difficulties universally felt by instructors,' but not 
attaching to any other profession. The first is, 
" moral responsibility for the conduct of other s."^"^ " It 
is hard enough," he says, for any one to witness 
the bad conduct of children, with a spirit unruffled 
and undisturbed ; but for their teacher, it is per- 
haps impossible. He feels responsible ; in fact he 
is responsible. If his scholars are disorderly, or 
negligent, or idle, or quarrelsome, he feels con- 
demned himself, almost as if he Avere himself the 
actual transgressor.^'*' The second is, the immense 
mtdtijplicity of the objects of his attention and care^ 

* Dr. Mayo, who has appended notes to some portions of *^ The 
Teacher," appears to me, in this, as well as in some other places, to 
have mistaken Mr. Abbott's meaning, and (unintentionally I am 
sure) to have judged him unfairly. It is not " the fear of man," to 
which he refers, when he speaks of the instructor's accountability, 
but the judgment which an enlightened conscience passes upon the 
manner in which duty has been performed. Mr. Abbott, with all 
his popularity, has some reason to complain of his English editors 
and publishers. Several editions, of his ^'Teacher" have been 
issued, in which the chapter on " ReHgious Influence" is omitted 
altogether, and this without any notification to the purchaser. Such 
practices cannot be too severely reprobated. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 201 

during the time he is employed in his business. 
His work is made up of a thousand minute par- 
ticulars, which are all crowding upon his attention 
at once, and w^hich can only be grouped together 
and combined to a very limited extent. He must 
be systematic ; he must classify and arrange ; but 
after he has done all that he can, he must still ex- 
pect that his daily business will continue to consist 
of a vast multitude of minute particulars, from one 
to another of which the mind raust turn, with a 
rapidity which few of the other employments of 
life ever demand." 

There are other causes of despondency, how- 
ever, which are more or less felt, according to the 
circumstances and character of the teacher ; some, 
arising from the prejudices of parents, against plans 
which they do not understand ; and others, occa- 
sioned by jjopular neglect, affecting, as it often does, 
not only the teacher's pecuniary circumstances, 
but that instinctive desire to excel, which is always 
associated with public notice and approbation, and 
with a good standing in society ; to say nothing of 
the natural despondency which is apt to arise, 
when no direct or immediate benefit is seen to 
result from long-continued and severe labor. 

With all the sympathy that can be afforded the 
teacher, he will still have abundant temptation to 
depression and weariness. The evil example of 
parents and' friends ; the counter-education of the 
street ; the habits of self-will and vicious indul- 



602 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

gence which are engendered at home ; irregular 
attendance ; the continual recurrence of faults 
which he has long endeavored to extirpate ; the 
absence in too many cases, of all co-operation on 
the part of the natural guardians of the child ; and 
the unjust reproach, not unfrequently cast upon 
him, for deficiencies in the pupil, which arise from 
confirmed dulness and stupidity ; — ^these, and a 
thousand other sources of petty vexation, too minute 
to be mentioned, but, owing to their continual oc- 
currence, not unimportant in their influence on the 
temper and spirits, must be expected, under the 
most favorable circumstances, to irritate and sad- 
den the mind of the conscientious teacher : and 
these are the things which give him so powerful a 
claim on the sympathy and kind attention of those 
who stand towards him somewhat m the relation 
of employers. 

5. Results. Let me add, in conclusion, that 
one of the most important and pleasing duties of a 
committee should be, to watch for their reward in 
the results of educational labor. For, while it is 
perfectly true, that eternity alone can disclose the 
extent of good which may have been effected, or 
the amount of evil that may have been prevented, 
through the agency of any school, it is equally cer- 
tain, that many indications of usefulness, which 
now pass unobserved, would, if properly followed 
out, bring to light results highly satisfactory and 
cheering. 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 203 

There are three ways in which the results of 
instruction, may be ascertained. First, periodical 
examinations^ conducted in the presence of the commit- 
tee. These should not be too frequent, or they 
will lose their effect. Once in three months, how- 
ever, such an examination might be very benefi- 
cial ; it would not assume the character of an exhi- 
bition, and it would enable both the teacher and 
the committee to detect various little deficiencies, 
which might not in any other way come under 
notice. 

2. Personal acquaintance with^ and interest in the 
welfare of the elder hoys. It is of course impossible, 
that any member of the committee can become 
acquainted with the majority of the children in a 
large school ; but no material difficulty stands in 
the way, to hinder any individual from gaining a 
considerable knowledge of the tempers, disposi- 
tions, and habits of those who remain for two or 
three years, and consequently receive their entire 
education in the institution. On the contrary, an 
intelligent friend of youth would find great delight 
in sometimes taking a class of these children apart, 
and, without at all interfering with the government 
of the school, he might spend to great advantage 
an occasional hour, in questioning them upon some 
lesson of Scripture, or other useful topic ; in this 
way drawing out their views and opinions, he 
might check that which he deemed erroneous, sup- 
ply what was defective, and encourage that which 



204 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

was praiseworthy. An interest in their future 
welfare would thus insensibly spring up, and as a 
natural result, an influence would be obtained over 
them, highly important both to them and to society 
at large. 

3. Meetings of old scholars. The practice of 
assembling, at stated times, scholars who have 
at different periods been educated in the school, 
has in several instances been found so very benefi- 
cial, that it cannot be too frequently or too strongly 
j^ecommended. At an annual meeting of this kind, 
held in the Fitzroy school-rooms, London, on the 
first of November, 183G, fifty persons, (old pupils,) 
from twenty to thirty-five years of age, assembled, 
and presented a pair of handsome globes to their 
beloved school-master, ^'as a memorial of their 
gratitude for his past instructions, and of the very 
high esteem which they cherish for his valuable 
and continued exertions on their b,ehalf." Another 
of our teachers, writing to me in relation to this 
class of lads, says, ^'I have endeavored to carry 
out a plan for meeting them periodically in a 
Bible class, and have to some extent succeeded. 
It would do you good to see about thirty of these 
youths assembled, some of them nearly twenty 
years of age. These join in the opening of our 
Sabbath school. Since the formation of this 
class, they have raised a library by their own con- 
tributions, to the number of about 130 volumes; 
and in addition to this, they have a sick fund, and 



I 



SCHOOL teacher's MANUAL. 205 

a fund which gives them some relief when out of 
employ. We have also a class of girls, of a simi- 
lar kind." 

Nor is this state of things rare. The amount of 
good feeling in a school, is oftentimes much greater 
than we are led to anticipate by a superficial 
glance. Circumstances occasionally develop val- 
uable traits of character in a very gratifying and 
unexpected way. When the master of the British 
school at Derby left that town in February last 
(1836), to promote education in the Bahamas, the 
monit-ors of his school, and a few others, raised a 
subscription among the boys, and purchased a 
very handsome day and night' thermometer, and a 
magnet, which they publicly presented to their 
teacher, as a memorial of their gratitude and 
respect ; while the committee of the school, in 
like manner, showed their sense of his services, 
by placing at his disposal, scientific instruments 
to the value of fifty pounds. Many other such 
instances might be mentioned. In the month of 
January of the same year, a teacher from the 
Borough Road being removed from a small hamlet 
in Staffordshire, to a school in London, a general 
subscription was raised in the village, and a tea- 
service was purchased and presented to him, at a 
parting meeting held in the school-room. These 
are triumphs, compared with which the achieve- 
ments of conquerors are not worthy to be named ; 

and, in the contemplation of this ever-extending 

18 



206 SCHOOL teacher's manual. 

result of educational labor, a good man will be 
willing, in the language of an eminent living 
orator, '' to dig his small allotment in the great 
field of usefulness, to contribute his little item to 
the cause of truth and righteousness, and to look 
for the sum total, as the product of innumerable 
contributions, each of them as meritorious, and 
many of them, perhaps, far more important and 
splendid than his own." 



APPENDIX 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 

The most obvious advantage which the monito- 
rial plan possesses over all others, is, without 
doubt, the greater facility which it affords for the 
maintenance of order and good government, by- 
securing at all times the regular and constant em- 
ployment of every pupil. It is equally evident 
that the amount of Tcnowledge imparted in a school 
where the pupils are constantly occupied, will be 
very much greater than it can be in one where, 
every thing having to be managed by the teacher, 
aided perhaps only hy a single individual, a large 
proportion of the children must, during many hours 
of the day^ be comparatively idle. 

But this is by no means the extent of benefit 
which may fairly be claimed on its behalf. Moni- 
tors are in some respects better teachers than 



208 APPENDIX. 

adults ; they sympathize more readily with the 
difficulties of the pupil ; they are more patient in 
imparting knowledge, and more fertile in expedi- 
ents for explaining and illustrating it :* they com- 
municate with more facility ; and, learning while 
they teach,f they willingly undertake an amount of 
labor, which would be to an adult intolerable 
drudgery. As suhordiiiate instructors they wee far 
superior to adults, inasmuch as, having no views 

* Father Girard, the benevolent founder of the system of mutual 
instruction in Switzerland, told Mr. Woodbridge, when examining 
his school, that when he met with difficulty in explaining any word 
or subject to a child, he had often called in a boy more advanced, 
to aid him, and bad usually found him succeed entirely, even when 
all his own efforts had failed. Mr. Wood (of Edinburgh) relates 
the following fact. '*A learned mathematician," he tells us, "came to 
the Sessional school, for the purpose of exhibiting what he suggested 
as an improvement in the practice of one of the rules of arith- 
metic." It was necessary to explain the plan five times over, both 
to Mr. Wood, and to one of his best monitors, before either of them 
could understand it ; but " the boy on his return to the school-room, 
so distinctly explained to one of his fellow monitors ihe method, 
that from this explanation owce given, he, though much inferior to 
the first, was able to'perform the operation." Professor Pillans bears 
similar testimony. He says, " Monitors are aware of the difficulties 
which they themselves encountered but lately, and are often able 
to explain them to their comrades, in a manner more familiar and 
intelligible than can be done by the master, whose habits and ways 
of thinking are so widely different." The experience of the central 
school in the Borough Road is precisely of the same character. 

t'*A monitor always improves himself as much as he does his 
pupils." — Wood and Pillans. 

" Dr. Johnson used always to urge the importance of children 
being encouraged to tell whatever they bear particularly striking, to 



APPEXDIX. 209 

of their own beyond the immediate accomplish- 
ment of the work to which they are appointed, 
they readily fall in with all the plans and direc- 
tions of the superintending mind ; and thus pro- 
mote that unity of system and of action, which is 
so essential to success. The intermediate position 
they occupy, between the teacher and the scholars, 
enables them greatly to benefit both parties. Ex- 
empted from the we.ariness and disgust conse- 
quent upon incessant attempts to communicate the 
more mechanical branches of learning, the teacher 
is able to direct a large share of his attention to 
the advancement of the elder scholars ; while the 
children, delivered from the irksome hstlessness 
attendant upon the old methods of instruction, 
instead of forming habits of inattention and idle- 
ness, the miserable influence of which may cling 
to them through life, — or expending their natural 
energies in every form of annoyance and of mis- 
chief, — are unitedly and agreeably engaged in 
advancing their own improvement, — in promoting 
the happiness of their teacher, — and in securing 
the well-being of their fellow scholars. 

some brother, sister, or servant, before the impression was erased by 
the interventiou of newer occurrences. His mother, it seems, was 
accustomed, when she had told him any thing which she thought 
likely to seize his attention, to send him to a favorite workman in 
the house, to whom she knew he would communicate the conversa- 
tion while it was yet impressed on his mind. The event was what 
she wished ; and it was to that method chiefly that he owed his unconi' 
mon felicity of remembering distant oceurrences.^^ — Piozzi. 
18* 



SIO APPENDIX. 

The moral advantages of such a system ought 
not to be overlooked. The industry it promotes, 
is favorable to the cultivation of every virtue ; the 
constant interchange of benefits which it demands, 
cherishes and calls forth the benevolent affections ; 
the immediate application of every attainment to 
a practical purpose, impressively teaches the im- 
portant lesson, that intellectual superiority is val- 
uable chiefly as a means of doing good to others ; 
while the opportunity which extended responsi-' 
bility affords, for the manifestation both of good and 
evil principles, is highly important as a means of 
discovering character, and of directing moral 
development. 

In order to reap these advantages, however, 
the teacher must be himself an intelligent and 
good man; thoroughly acquainted with the system 
in all its bearings ; and, perhaps I should add, 
unfeignedly attached to it as a mode of instruction. 
No man who is ignorant of the principles on 
which monitorial instruction rests, or who distrusts 
its capabilities, can possibly succeed in any ex- 
tended application of it. Mr. Lancaster,. in the 
exuberance of his zeal for this method, is reported 
to have said that, on his system an automaton 
might be a school-master. If he did say so, it is 
only one of many remarkable proofs on record, of 
the absurd lengths to which an extravagant admi- 
ration of that which is really good in itself, will 
sometimes carry men. The truth is, as you well 



APPENDIX. 211 

know, a monitorial school requires a letter and abler 
teacher than almost amj other : it demands more 
energy ; more skill ; more wisdom ; and more 
strength both of body and mind : and hence it 
not unfrequently happens, that when schools fail 
to accomplish the expectations of their founders, 
reproaches are cast upon the plan, which really 
belong to the agent, who has been vainly attempt- 
ing to carry out arrangements, to the management 
of which he was altogether incompetent.^ 

In offering you a few hints on the selection, 
training, and government of monitors, I am anx- 



* All over Germany a prejudice is entertained, almost as univer- 
sal as I hold it to be groundless, against any modification of the 
monitorial method of teaching. The nearest approach to it, is, the 
employing of those who are pupils in the seminaries for teachers, 
to act the part of under masters in ihe primary schools, which are 
usually attached to those establishments; but there prevails, not 
among the people only, but among the educated and enlightened 
men of that country, a rooted aversion to the employment of one 
pupil to teach another. Hence the multiplication of masters is 
their idea of a perfect school. The larger the proportion of mas- 
ters to the number of scholars, the better the system is conceived to 
be; and hence the rate of expenditure for the purposes of educa- 
tion, far beyond what can ever be looked for in this country. Nor 
is the pecuniary objection the only one ; for if this were a fit occa- 
sion, it would not be difficult to prove, that there is a quickening 
and improving energy in the monitorial method, when it is skilfully 
applied, which no amount of masters nor increase of expenditure 
can adequately supply; that it brings into play principles, — left dor- 
mant under the teaching even of good masters, — which act most 
beneficially both on the monitor and his section of pupils, in pro- 
moting their progress in preparing them for the business of life ; 
and that if this beneficial tendency has been but rarely exemphfied? 



21S APPENDIX. 

ious that you should feel that your success as a 
teacher, will almost entirelj^ depend upon the 
amount of sagacity, skill, and wisdom, which you 
can bring to bear in this most delicate and difficult 
work. Mistakes here are fatal. 

Let me advise you, then, prior to any open 
declaration of your choice, to obtain, by repeated 
individual examinations, and strict observation, 
an intimate acquaintance with the personal char- 
acter and peculiarities, both mentpJ and moral, of 
those boys on whom you have fixed your eye as 
appearing at first sight fit for monitorial employ- 
ment. I need not say, that you will find it neces- 



ii is only another proof among many, how litlle advance can be 
made in the improvement of education, without the means of train- 
ing masters to the knowledge and exercise of their profession. 

In France, the same prejudice against monitorial teaching docs 
not prevail as in Germany, and great exertions have been made, 
with the countenance and aid of the government to encourage and 
extend it. But, though there can be no doubt that the use of moni- 
tors has infused a spirit of alertness and activity into the French 
ecolesprimaires, which one feels the want of in the volks-schulen of 
Germany, yet the monitorial method is far from having attained in 
France its full development and efficiency. This is owing, in a 
great measure, to the notion which has gained ground even among 
school-masters over that country, that boys can be trusted with 
the teaching of nothing beyond the mechanical processes of read- 
ing, spelling, and ciphering. Of this opinion we have long had 
many practical refutations in schools established among ourselves, 
where much intellectual and even moral training is accomplished 
by means of monitors; and these schools, we may confidently anti- 
cipate, will serve as models in the preparation of any great legisla- 
tive measure for education. — Pillans' Three Lectures, 1836. 



APPENDIX. 213 

sary always to have i7i your mind, and in your 
private memorandum book, a certain number of 
pupils, in this particular respect, on trial, out of 
which list you may from time to time fill up vacan- 
cies, as the parties are respectively tested, and 
found worthy of your confidence. 

In deciding, however, upon this fitness, regard 
must be had to various qualifications. The quick- 
est and best scholar is by no means certain to 
make the best monitor. You want other qualities 
besides talent. There must be patience, good 
temper, integrity, industry ; and, along with 
steadiness of character, no small portion of enthu- 
siasm, or little good will result from the appoint- 
ment. Besides this, there should be some degree 
of aptness to teach, and a general willingness to fol- 
low out such directions as are laid down for the 
guidance and government of the school. 

The same degree of care and discrimination 
must again be exercised in reference to the par- 
ticular hind of responsibility which is to be en- 
trusted to particular individuals. A boy, who 
may be quite unfit for the maintenance of order, 
or for carrying out general arrangements, will 
sometimes make an invaluable teacher of a single 
class ; and, in hke manner, while one is fitted by 
patience, and kindness, and ingenuity in illustra- 
tion, for instructing the youngest and most igno- 
rant ; another, by superior talent, weight of char- 
acter, and abihty to command, is better adapted 



214 APPENDIX. 

for teaching and governing his equals in years and 
attainments. All these diversities of talent and 
character must be kept distinctly in mind, — they 
must regulate your choice. 

In these appointments, you will find it advisa- 
ble sometimes to consult the wishes of the boys 
themselves, as to the particular work which should 
be allotted to them. It is occasionally of great 
advantage to yield to these little preferences ; it 
is essential to the success of any monitor, that he 
should enter upon his work, not only with perfect 
good-will, but with alacrity and hope. Hence, 
the office should always be connected with re- 
ward ; the service regarded as an honor, and 
employment esteemed a- privilege. Where this 
is the case, an enthusiastic desire to bring forward 
the various classes committed to their charge, will 
not unfrequently be excited, inspired by which, 
difficulties of all kinds will be readily overcome, 
and an amount of knowledge be imparted far 
beyond the most sanguine calculations of the 
teacher. 

With all this care in selection, there must also 
be connected appropriate training and govern- 
ment. Aiithority must be delegated little by little, 
and then only in connection with diligent super- 
intendence, and numerous checks against its 
abuse ; and instruction must be imparted, not 
only to monitors in common with ordinary pupils, 
but apart, — alone, at an hour when others are 



APPENDIX. 215 

away, and with especial reference to their partic- 
ular position and duties. In the acquisition of 
knowledge, they, above all others, must be direct- 
ed to principles ; for a monitor will teach w^ell or 
ill, just in proportion to his acquaintance with, or 
ignorance of, the principles on which his instruc- 
tions are based. And since it is by and through 
them chiefly that moral influences are im- 
parted, it is of the utmost importance that they 
should be made sensible of the responsibilities 
which, by reason of their ofiice, attach to their 
conduct and example. You wdll best accomplish 
this by taking them, to a certain extent, into your 
confidence; treating them always with respect; 
governing them with a mild but steady hand; 
and avaihng yourself of every opportunity for 
enlarging their minds and impressing their hearts. 
The following valuable remarks on the training 
of monitors, have been communicated to me by 
Mr. Crossley, the able superintendent of the Cen- 
tral school, whose long experience and distin- 
guished success as a monitorial teacher entitle him 
to be heard with deference by those who are but 
just beginning the same course. 

"A master's first thoughts on taking charge of a 
school, should be directed to the formation of a band of 
monitors. For this purpose, after selecting as nearly as 
he can, boys possessing suitable qualities, he will arrange 
his lessons according to the number of his drafts, which 
will, of course, depend on the number of his pupils. 



216 APPENDIX. 

Having thus determined on the number of his drafts, and 
on the lessons to be studied at each draft, he will appoint 
a boy to the several stations to act as a monitor. The 
boy thus appointed, is supposed to be able to spell and 
to read the lessons, but possessing no knowledge of the 
business beyond these two qualifications; he is then 
first to be taught the meaning of each word, and to be 
exercised in giving illustrations of its varied application, 
both from Scripture, general history, science, and from 
subjects within the range of his pupils' observation. In 
some cases the pre-fixes, post-fixes, and roots of the 
words are important. He must then be exercised in th^ 
art of questioning, so as to be able to communicate his 
information by interrogation, and by that alone, and to 
keep up without any auxiliary stimulant the eager atten- 
tion of his pupil. He must further be taught to vary his 
questions on the same word, so that repetition may not 
tire • and he must be instructed how to discover the 
proper instant to change from simultaneous repetition 
to individual examination, from brief description to 
rapid questioning, from the lively statement of facts, to 
the calm and impressive, deduction of instructive lessons. 
« In giving definitions, the simplest mode of expression 
must be carefully sought ; which will, of course, gener- 
ally be in Saxon phraseology. These definitions must 
be learned by the newly appointed monitors at the rate 
of about a dozen or twenty a day. The master must set 
apart a portion of each day, either from 12 to 1, (which 
usually is best,) or from 6 to 7 in the evening, to hear 
each individual repeat these meanings. In the first in- 
stance, it may be necessary to give up both these portions 
oftimetothe work. To accomplish his purpose, he 
must form his newly seledted monitors into a draft; 



APPENDIX. . 217 

each, in turn, must then question on his own particular 
words, as he would do in the draft for which he is train- 
ing. After the definition has been given, the questioner 
for the time being, must call for an instance of the ap- 
plication of the word, or an illustration containing some 
additional information more or less remotely connected 
with it. Here the master's reading, experience, and 
judgment, will find full scope ; for when the boys fail, 
he should be ready to supply the desirable lesson, the 
parallel passage, the fact, or the opinion. In this way 
the monitor's mind is stored with numerous pertinent 
illustrations ; he is exercised in applying them naturally 
and in familiar language ; and instead of communica- 
ting in a formal manner and set style, he learns so to 
vary his observations as to avoid sameness. His mind 
thus disciplined will ever furnish him with new examples 
in his daily course of teaching. This plan must be 
followed daily till the whole of the lessons of each draft 
have been the subject of inquiry ; nor must this practice 
be discontinued, until monitors can be chosen from 
among the boys who have themselves been taught by 
those who have thus been trained. 

*' I must, however, here enter a protest against the 
master's supposing that all is done when his monitors 
are trained ; and, further, against his even supposing 
that they ever will be thoroughly trained by this or by 
any other method, except he can and does set them the 
example, both in the manner and in the spirit of teach- 
ing. He must, from the commencement, be daily seen 
teaching in the drafts^ infusing into his monitors a spirit 
little short of enthusiasm, and showing himself a model 
both of what he wishes them to be and to do." 

19 



218 APPENDIX. 

All this, it is evident, implies much labor and 
self-denial on the part of the master ; it was not, 
therefore, without reason, that, in a former letter, 
I adopted Fellenberg's language, and claimed for 
this office, "a vigilance that never sleeps, a persever- 
ance that never tires,^^ 

But severer trials than any that have yet been 
mentioned, must occasionally be endured by the 
conscientious teacher of a monitorial . school, — I 
mean those which are connected with the punish- 
ment, and, if necessary, the dismissal of his moni- 
tors. I have already referred to the opportunity 
which extended responsibility affords, for the ^nan- 
ifestation of evil as well as of good principles, and 
I have ranked this means of discovering character 
among the advantages of the monitorial system. 
It is obvious, however, that it can only be so, in 
proportion as delinquency thus manifested, is fol- 
lowed by appropriate punishment. Monitors, by 
their office, are exposed to certain temptations 
from which others are exempt. Bribes of various 
kinds, in spite of every regulation to the contrary, 
will from time to time be offered and accepted ; 
partiality will then be shown to one, and tyranny 
be exercised over another ; falsehood will proba- 
bly follow; and evils of the most tremendous 
character may, in this way, be fostered and in- 
dulged. It must be so while human nature con- 
tinues as it is. But are we then to cast aside 
monitors altogether ? By no means. It is better 



' APPENDIX. 219 

to Icnow betimes that these dispositions exist, that 
we may apply remedies before it is too late. The 
great point is, to secure an early discovery of un- 
faithfulness, and this is not so difficult as some are 
apt to imagine. A monitor's power is, after all, 
very limited ; it is not like fagging^ a secret and 
uncontrolled force, wielded by the stronger over 
the weaker ; it is power delegated by the master, 
exercised only under his eye, and subjected to his 
superintendence ; and moreover, held very fre- 
quently by the younger and the weaker, since 
neither physical strength nor mere intellectual 
vigor qualify for its reception. Originally triffing 
in amount, it is continually checked by perfect 
freedom of appeal to the teacher, who, it must be 
remembered, is all the while present in the room, 
and engaged chiefly in observing the conduct of 
these very agents. The consequence is, as expe- 
rience has abundantly shown, bribery cannot long 
be concealed, falsehood is almost certain of imme- 
diate discovery, and the most petty acts of tyranny 
are reported almost as soon as committed. Still, 
''offences will come," sometimes of the serious 
character to which I have alreadj^ referred, and 
sometimes of a lighter description, such as ebulh- 
tions of temper, violence of language, disobedi- 
ence to orders, neglect of duty, want of interest 
in the work, or the yielding to that which is merely 
*' eye-service." Now in such cases, especially 
those of the first mentioned class, a teacher has no 



220 APPENDIX. 

choice. Cost him what it may, he must dismiss 
the offender from his office. It may be the first 
transgression, — the deUnquent maybe the most 
inteUigent and useful of monitors, he may be the 
very one on whom he has bestowed, the greatest 
amount of labor, and therefore probably the boy 
he has loved best, — I repeat it, cost what it will, 
he must cease to employ the unfaithful monitor y or his 
moral injluence is fatally itndermined. Any punish- 
ment he may inflict on such a boy, will, from the 
circumstances of the case, be done with so much 
unfeigned sorrow, that there is the greatest reason 
to hope the offender will be more benefitted by the 
deprivation than he could be by any other process. 
Lay it down, therefore, as an invariable rule, never 
to pass by the offences of a monitor ; in no other 
way can you secure among them the habit of cir- 
cumspection, and that high moral character, which 
is so. essential to their usefulness. 

I need scarcely add more. This brief letter is 
not intended to occupy the place of any existing 
manual for the regulation of monitorial schools, 
otherwise much would have to be added on other 
subjects, besides the selection and training of mon- 
itors. For the system to work well, there must 
be a careful and distinct classification of the 
school, for each separate department of study; 
and unceasing vigilance must be exercised to guard 
against some boys' being left in a position where 
they are dispirited by continual defeat; while 



APPENDIX, 221 

otherSj who advance with ease, are injuriously 
detained in a class which demands from them no 
energy or effort But for these, and various other 
matters of detail, highly important as they are in 
themselves, and intimately connected as they must 
be, with the general efficiency of a school, it is 
sufficient to refer you to the authorised pubHca- 
tions of the two societies. 

One objection, however, which is continually 
made against monitorial schools, deserves a pass- 
ing notice. It is a matter of frequent complaint, 
that they are so often scenes of noise and of tumult. 
That this is a very serious evil cannot be denied ; 
tranquillity and quietness would certainly be far 
preferable, if they could be obtained without too 
great a sacrifice of time and improvement* But 
the truth is, noise is inseparable from the united 
employment of numhersj and there is no remedy 
for it but dispersion or listless indolence. A quick 
eye and ear will soon distinguish between the acti- 
vity of business, and - the irregular action of idle 
conversation ; and a reasonable mind will see the 
folly of expecting that any community, laboring 
for a common object, should present the quietness 
of a convent, from which useful activity is banished. 

To avoid needless prejudice, however, and to 
explain the true character of that apparent tumult 
which is occasioned by the hum of voices, and 
the excitement of mind, you should invariably 
demand and obtain jperfect silence^ the instant that any 



222 APPENDIX. 

Stranger enters your school-room. By so doing, you 
can show him at once, that whether in a state of 
activity or of rest, the order of the school is equally 
good, and your control the same. If you can 
obtain this required silence in an instant, without 
an effort or an angry look ; and if you can retain 
it as long as you please, without renewed and 
repeated commands, the most prejudiced man will 
see the reality of the distinction to which I have 
referred. Nay more, he will go away impressed 
by the exhibition of a power, which can in one 
moment bring order out of apparent confusion, 
and hold in check the activities of hundreds of 
minds, without drawing forth one tear, or even 
removing the smile of happiness from a single 
countenance. But if you cannot do this ; if the 
command for silence must be repeated again and 
again; if frowns must be sent across the room, 
and looks of promised vengeance, before obedi- 
ence can be obtained ; if the moment after it is 
secured, restlessness meets the eye, and murmur- 
ings fill the ear, do not, I pray you, complain if 
your visitant, irritated by this evident want of con- 
trol, should go away, and speak contemptuously 
both of you and your school. In vain will you 
protest that you can govern ; in vain seek to attrib- 
ute this ^'unusual disorder ^'^ to some momentary 
perversity on the part of the children ; in vain 
will you appeal to their acquirements, or rest your 
defence upon a conscientious performance of duty ; 



APPENDIX. * 223 

in the absence of unlimited control, all is vain and 
worthless. It matters little upon what system 
such a school may be conducted, it can never be 
efficient, — the teacher is incompetent. 



r 19 65 






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